Living Dead Girl
by AnnettePoudre
Summary: Antonin kidnaps Hermione during the Department of Mysteries debacle, not knowing who she was, or why he needed her. Rabastan's strange affection for Luna introduces them all to the mudblood in the dungeons. When she offers good company, they offer her a way out, but she has to die first. Antonin begins to learn that things have changed since he's gotten out of Azkaban.
1. Revenge & Nargles in the Dungeons

When he descended the stairs behind Yaxley he could hear her voice, crystal clear, calling Lucius Malfoy an insufferable bastard. Later, he would tell her that was the reason he liked her so much, but for now, he quietly followed his best friend deeper into the dungeons.

Yaxley had a bit of a limp from the battle in the Department of Mysteries, and so it was slow going for the both of them, but Antonin was quiet about it, the same way that Yaxley was when Antonin got injured. Antonin measured his steps and every so often Yaxley would look back with an apologetic smile. Antonin ignored those, there was nothing to be sorry for. They were coming to get revenge after all.

"You mudblood cow."

"Trussed up pureblood peacock."

"When I get out-"

Her laughter.

"Don't agitate Mister Malfoy, Hermione." A softer voice, it sounded like a ghost, did the Malfoy dungeons have ghosts?

Yaxley must have had the same thought because his pace slowed even further.

"Do you feel sick, Mister Malfoy that you're sharing a cell with a mudblood and a blood traitor?" She asked, and then laughed.

"Enough, girl!" He growled.

The girl called Hermione was topless, her shirt wrapped around her midsection, covered in her own blood and dirt, even then she was radiant, hissing and spitting at the other man who shared their cell even as she was bleeding out onto the stones. Her breasts heaved with each breath she took and the moonlight made the ghost attending her glow.

A blonde fairy was hunched over her, her hair hiding her face as she put pressure on the wound, her free hand coming up and brushing the wild mane of hair away from Hermione's face.

Lucius Malfoy was leaning against the far wall, his knees drawn to his chest, watching the two of them warily, three streaks of blood across his cheek and a very clear thumbprint on his chin, his hair dirtied and matted. He heard their footsteps first, over the mixture of laughter and gasps of pain.

"Are you here to kill me?" He asked, nonplussed, rolling up his torn shirt sleeve, trying to save face.

Antonin was captivated by the girl on the floor, a wild cat if he had ever met one. He caught her because she was wild. Fiery tempered and bold, the girl that tried to curse him even as she crumpled to the floor. He had to possess her.

He knew that she was the one to attack the great Lucius Malfoy, rubbing her own blood on him in some kind of twisted payback.

Yaxley had his hand on the bars and turned back to him, looking at him expectantly.

"Oh good," a voice said "Look Hermione, we have visitors."

"By all means," Hermione, the mudblood's, words were slurred "Let them in."

"You heard the lady," Yaxley had an almost feral grin on his features. "We've been invited in."

The cell was no bigger than 8 meters squared, it was crowded with all five of them inside, the door clattered shut behind them and while Yaxley approached Lucius in vengeful glee but Antonin was more interested in the two women who were huddled together under the light of the moon.

This was the girl he had cursed, and then, for some reason, kidnapped. It was the way she had looked at him when he had cornered her in the Unspeakables office, that look of fiery passion that struck a chord somewhere inside himself. Like calls like.

Now she lay with the ghost of the Malfoy dungeons, taunting the owner of the manor as she bled out from a stray spell, his stray spell. Guilt, an unfamiliar emotion for Antonin Dolohov, roiled around in his stomach. Did he have the right to kill someone with such fire? Would he have liked to die like this?

Lucius Malfoy finally cried out and Antonin realised he had been stroking her hair. He retracted his hand as if burnt and the ghost she was sitting with looked up at him with clear blue eyes and a small smile.

"Blood replenishing potion, essence of murtlap, water." She drew each word out like she had spent time to think of each one.

Hermione looked up at him, whiskey colored eyes that caught the light and she saw through him so clearly that he was afraid she was a legilimens.

"Go ahead and do it then, finish me off, that's why you came, isn't it?" She spat, her breath smelled like blood and honey.

"No," he said, his accent was thick and he caught himself. He didn't want to say anymore. "Tonight is for Lucius."

Her eyes slid over away from him to Yaxley and Malfoy in the other corner of the room. Her gaze snapped back to him.

"Don't hurt him," She protested.

He sneered, did she fall victim to Malfoy charm as well? Were they just play fighting for the audience?

Antonin went to stand up, but a wet hand came around his wrist and he tensed. "He'll complain all night if you do."

Yaxley laughed at this and stopped what he was doing. Lucius was wheezing in a pile of clothing and hair on the corner. His fingers were scratching at the cobblestone flooring making an unholy sound.

She released her grip on his arm and got up to her hands and knees, topless in a white bra that was now an ugly shade of burgundy, her schoolgirl skirt sticking to her thighs as she struggled to stand up. The ghost of the dungeons pulled her down.

"Luna, no." She grunted, but after a few moments of heavy breathing opted to continue her crawl against the floor.

She stopped next to the blonde man who was coughing up his own blood and sat back on her heels. Her fingers were trembling as she pushed back his mane of blonde hair, her fingers leaving another track of blood across his face as she tucked it behind his ear gently, like a mother to a small child.

His coughing stopped and he watched her fearfully with those silver eyes. She turned his hand over so his palm caught the small bit of light that was flooding the room and spit on it.

Yaxley laughed "She's worse than any torture we could have done."

"See Malfoy," she said, swiping some blood from the wound on her chest with an index finger, from his cut lip with her middle, drawing two lines down his now clean palm. "See now?"

Two streaks of blood, both red glittered in pale light. He looked at her like she had gone mad. She gave him a smile in return, a shuddering breath and she bowed her head.

"There's no difference in our blood, none at all."

The room went silent, and eventually, her labored breathing evened out, and she fell over on top of the injured Lucius Malfoy.

The blonde did not protest, just rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, letting the blood dry on his hand.

"Blood replenishing potion, essence of murtlap, water." The girl they had all forgotten about spoke up in the silence.

"You're the girl Rabastan brought?" Yaxley asked and looked over her once.

She did not respond, instead, she looked out the small high window in the cell. The ghost glowed in the moonlight, she was otherworldly to the point where Antonin had to look away.

* * *

Antonin came down much later to witness a one sided conversation between Rabastan LeStrange and the ghost girl.

He set down three things by the cell door, wordlessly, unnoticed by the younger LeStrange who was sitting cross legged on the floor going over the details of his day almost meticulously.

Her blue eyes flicked up to Antonin's only for the briefest of seconds, and he fled, because like the mudblood, he was sure the ghost was an accomplished legilimens. When the ghost looked at him in the, he felt all his secrets laid bare.

"What is it?" Rabastan asked as he walked down the hallway. He sounded eager for her words.

"Nargles in the dungeon." Her voice floated down the hallway on the wind.

"Oh yes, of course."


	2. Dungeon Dining

When he agreed to meet Yaxley for dinner a few days later, Yaxley didn't show. Antonin stepped out of his room, leaving the excellent pot roast to grow cold and caught a flash of white hair. Yaxley was the floor below them, speaking in hushed tones with Rabastan LeStrange as they walked behind two house elves who were carrying silver trays.

Antonin was never someone to rush after others, but they were quickly going out of his sight, and so he found himself bounding down the stairs after them. Malfoy Manor was impossibly huge sometimes, and if he didn't keep an eye on Yaxley there was no way to know where he'd end up.

"Coming?" The older man grinned, Rabastan looked stunned and almost tripped on the house elf.

"Can he be trusted?" Rabastan asked.

Yaxley scoffed "Antonin? Of cours-"  
"You didn't come to dinner." Antonin said dumbly. He'd felt off his game since they left Azkaban a few months prior. He didn't like to be left alone too long, his thoughts haunted him.

"We're _going_ to dinner now." Yaxley said and stepped aside so he could walk between him and Rabastan.

Three sets of boots echoed off the marble flooring as they disappeared deeper into the house. "Where are we going?" Hissed Antonin.

Yaxley raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes in a way that said _really_? Before turning back down the hall. They turned a corner, and the portraits greeted Rabastan as if they were old friends. Antonin surveyed the corridor, lit only by torches that licked the stone and he realized where they were going. _The dungeons_.

"You cannot tell." Rabastan said furtively as they hit the last step, the cold air of the dungeons sending goosebumps up Antonin's arms. "You must not."

It was her voice again, the one that he kept hearing faintly in his dreams, she was musing about how long they must have been here by now out loud. Lucius was arguing with her.

"Oh," Her voice stopped, not surprised, but disappointed "Your elves are clothed?"

Lucius, who was stretched out on the far side of the cell, his back against the wall, his face dirty but his hair clean and pulled back in a tight ponytail scoffed at her. "Some of us have _class_ around here Miss Granger, not everyone dresses like you."

He was right of course, she was still half naked, but no longer bleeding, her face was clean, but there was still dried blood on her body. Yaxley conjured a table and entered the cell, placing the food down, Rabastan, eager, took the silver tray from a very affronted house elf and put it down in front of Luna, who was sitting herself down at the table.

Yaxley handed Hermione a copy of the daily prophet and she thanked him. Antonin could only stand and watched the other four settle into the table as if it was a normal occurrence for death eaters to sit down with their prisoners.

Her eyes flicked up from the headline to look at him and she smiled. "Weird, isn't it?"

Antonin sat down across from her, his hand gripped at his wand in case this was some strange elaborate plot. Yaxley began to eat, and the others followed suit.

The bushy haired girl disappeared behind the prophet "Rabastan was initially only feeding Luna, but I joined." She explained, her hand darting out to grab a roll.

Lucius cleared his throat "Mind your manners at my table, mudblood. Put down the paper."

There was no bite to his words and she folded the paper down so only those whiskey eyes were showing above the moving pictures. "Quiet you pureblood prat. Anyways, Yaxley caught us, and asked to join."

"Better conversation than dinner upstairs." Yaxley shrugged.

Antonin looked back to Rabastan who was watching the blonde ghost eat with delight. He was always a bit unhinged, Antonin decided before picking up the goblet. In for a penny, he raised his glass "Cheers to good conversation."

Hermione, the bushy haired spitfire who had turned even the most dangerous of men into dinner guests raised her glass as well. "Magical creatures registration act?"

"Fenrir has displeased our lord, it's time to shorten the leash." Lucius responded smoothly.

Yaxley hummed in agreement "Fenrir only cares for one thing, his pack. If our Lord threatens the pack, he tames the wolf."  
At this Hermione actually did fold the paper down onto her lap and picked up a fork, digging into the pot roast that the elves had cooked. "Victims, more like it." She groused and ate a forkful, looking over at Lucius with disdain.

"As much as it must _pain_ you to find out, Fenrir does care about his pack members, and that's why our lord is finding out who exactly that is." Lucius said before taking another sip of wine.

"To kill." Rabastan said "No one is untouchable."

"What other creatures then? The giants?" She asked more to herself.

Antonin spoke up "This is only targeted towards the wolves, but the vampires are next. It is clear."

"It's hard to run an army when you're one chance meeting away from a war within the ranks." Yaxley said "Vampires and Werewolves never see eye to eye, and the giants…"

"Does he have an army of heliopaths? They are very common in Albania." Luna spoke up.

Hermione chose to ignore it. "Victims of Fenrir soon to be victims of Vo-"

"Don't say his name!" Antonin hissed  
"Of the dark lord." She finished lamely "What's the problem, he's just upstairs, I'm already up the creek."

"Antonin?" Yaxley pointed a fork at him and for once the Russian felt ashamed.

"There is a tracker on his name." He supplied, his voice so low it came out gravelly. "It will alert the snatchers of your location, and they'll be able to apparate to you...no matter the wards."

She bit her lip, sucking the pink flesh between her white teeth and looked down at her plate, pot roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, before looking back up at him.

"Your idea?" She asked "A spells master?"

"Charms and Curses."

"Flitwick would have a fit." She said "Tell me more."

Antonin never spoke about his work, and it unnerved him that anyone _wanted_ to hear about his work. When he didn't speak for a few more moments, staring down at his plate, Yaxley ushered the conversation forward.

"I thought that after we took over the ministry it'd be a bit different, run a little smoother without all the cloak and dagger business."

"And?" Hermione asked, picking up her copy of the prophet and folding it over, reading the list of undesirables as Lucius muttered something like "rude girl" under his breath.

"Deplorable, that Umbridge woman is a troll, and now, since the magical creature registration act, she's a troll with a fat head."

"If there is anything we can agree on, it's that Umbridge is a troll."

* * *

Antonin found himself walking back down the dark hallway with the friendly portraits, it was a few hours before dawn, in that hour of night where he felt the most alone, when the nightmares of the dementors always got the worst. He had a bottle of firewhiskey in his hand, the burning alcoholic scent drifted up from the bottle as he walked. He took a swig, but wanted to wait until he was in front of her, he wanted to know why it was her voice that kept bringing him up from nightmares of Azkaban.

"Luna," her voice was panicked, "are you sure that we can trust Rabastan? He keeps bringing more and more people, and he's a _LeStrange_."

"He is a good man." Luna's voice was airy and tired "His aura, you can see it, I know you can, the way you look at-"

"He kidnapped me." She hissed "I don't want to die."

Luna hummed noncommittally.

Antonin stood just a little ways off, listening quietly to the two of them converse. A hand came to his elbow and he dropped the bottle he had been holding, startling everyone in the dungeons.

" _Reparo._ " Rabastan said from behind him and stepped into the torchlight, holding the bottle of of firewhiskey in front of his face.

Antonin reached for it, but Rabastan took another step backwards. "What brings you here at this time of night?"

He looked away from the man in front of him to the girls sitting in the far corner, Hermione had pushed that frail ghost of a girl behind her, Lucius had pulled his threadbare blanket even higher so that he looked more like a sack of potatoes than a man.

"Company." Antonin replied thickly, and swiped at the bottle.

Rabastan handed him the bottle and brushed past him, clearly irritated "Leave the blonde alone."

"Which one?"

Rabastan stopped next to him, and might have thought out his response for a few seconds before brushing past him and sitting on the same floor, eye to eye with the girl he kidnapped.

The blonde one, Luna, gave him a smile and her eyes followed Rabastan until he was too far out of sight.

"Are you like him?" She asked, not looking at him, her voice was airy and light.

"Like him?"

"Lonely," she smiled "your aura, it's the same."

He laughed bitterly, and wondered if the girl was descended from dementors because she made him feel exactly the same.

When he sat down where Rabastan was, clear circles drawn in the dust where the other man fidgeted, he thought he had gone mad. Things were different since he arrived back from Azkaban, the world had changed, their lord had changed. He found something oddly comforting about the dungeons. He couldn't wait to get out of prison, but now as he sat and stared at the girl inside the bars, he felt like he was home. Things were so black and white down here, beneath Malfoy Manor. She was a captive, and he was her captor.

The mudblood spoke first. "Why didn't you kill me?"

He went to touch the stone, to fidget as Rabastan did, but instead grabbed the bottle and took a swig, passing it through the bars to the girl who held it gently between her hands, staring down at it strangely.

"Your eyes." He said and tried to catch another glimpse at that fiery gaze that he saw in the department of mystery "Your fire."

She scoffed and then after a few minutes, he watched her take a swig as he did and cough. "This stuff is vile." She screwed up her face and he thought it was rather adorable. He didn't remember his first time drinking firewhiskey.

"It warms you up." He laughed and took the bottle she offered back. "Doesn't it? I would have killed to have firewhiskey in prison."

"You killed to land in prison." She said matter of factly "And you killed to get out, didn't you?"

The biting tongue that came after Malfoy came after him next, and her judgement hurt, the truth of it hurt. He looked away briefly, up at the window that showed some overgrown grass of Malfoy Manor and the first hints of dawn.

"Do you sleep?" He asked "Rabastan is always down here, and you're awake now."

"Why are you here?" She asked and shifted so the blanket fell a bit lower and exposed some of her wound, an ugly scar _his scar_ was red and jarring against the rest of her skin.

"Lonely." He replied honestly and took another swig, handing it back to her, but she took it and let it rest by her legs. "This wasn't how I imagined my freedom, sneaking downstairs to speak to an underaged girl-"

"I'm of age." She snapped, irritated "Luna isn't. Didn't stop you from attacking me and then storing me down here li-"

"What was I supposed to do with you?" He said suddenly, the liquor loosening his tongue, the tiredness from lack of sleep "I don't even know why you're here! I just...I just _wanted you_."

"Wanted me? For what reason? A sick gift to your dark lord?" She was tired too, he could tell, she felt the same way he did, he could see it in those eyes.

"No! No, I don't know." His finger found the uneven stone and started to draw small circles anxiously "How does Rabastan handle sitting down here with you for hours?"

"Rabastan doesn't speak to me much, he's not here for me." She said quietly looking back at Luna who had fallen asleep in the far corner "He didn't bring me here, Luna has her own reasons for trusting him. She says I should trust you, but you're Antonin Dolohov, you almost killed me."

"I saved you!" He said frantically, he felt like he was a child again begging his mother for forgiveness "I br-"

" _Why_? What am I to you, Dolohov?" Her eyes held that fire, the one that made him stop dead in his tracks from before.

"Don't ask such complicated questions, _malyshka_." His russian cut through harsher than he had wanted and she pursed her lips.

"What does that mean?" She asked quickly, a tinge of anger creeping into her voice.

"Nothing, nothing, keep the alcohol away from me, it's no good talking to you when I'm drunk."

He scooted back against the wall, his robes snagging on the stone floor as he laid his head against the cold stone. The words came easier now that he was somewhere familiar. Stone walls, the quiet of early morning, the cloying tiredness that tried to pull him into nightmares.

"Dolohov?" Her voice was close.

He turned his head to look at her, she was a head shorter than him sitting down, she was staring at the bottle of firewhiskey that glowed amber, the liquid swirling around and smoking gently off the top.

He hummed after a few moments, acknowledging her.

"When am I going to die?"

He had thought that thought so many times in Azkaban. He craved death on some days, feared it on others. He flicked his fingers and the bottle of alcohol came sailing back towards him, dinging against the metal bars and startling them both.

"Perhaps it's _only_ good talking to you when I'm drunk.'

She huffed. "You don't know, do you?"

"No, I don't know why I brought you here, I don't know when you'll leave, things were easier in Azkaban."

"Do you miss it?" She asked, her voice was quieter now, tired.

"Sometimes." He replied and took another swig.

Her breathing evened out next to him and he closed his eyes, listening to everyone else sleep as the sun crept higher in the sky.

It wasn't until a house elf served lunch that he woke up to the sounds of silverware, raucous conversation, the turning of the pages of the prophet, and her voice as she complained more about the rights of the werewolves and Fenrir Greyback.

His neck was sore, but his body was well rested.

"Dolohov," Hermione called after she heard his groans of protest. "Lunch."

* * *

"My mother," he said as he sat down two nights later, now with dinner rolls and shot glasses for the two of them "would like you."

He handed her a shot glass and she took it, raising an eyebrow at him "Unbreakable, so don't even try, _malyshka_."

She looked back at Luna who had fallen asleep and over at Lucius who was much the same before nervously offering out her shot glass. "It helps keep me warm." She explained.

He smiled and poured her a shot of firewhiskey before his own. "She said that strong women were the mark of good upbringing, a good pureblood household raises women to run the world, and they do."

"A pity," she shot back, sipping her firewhiskey timidly, the billows of smoke from the glass clouding his view of her eyes "that I am a mudblood."

"A pity." He murmured, tipping his head back as he swallowed all of his firewhiskey in one go, and poured himself another. It burned all the way down, it thawed the iciness that stayed since the dementors left.

"Oh be reasonable Dolohov," she said taking another sip "You really believe that drivel that purebloods are better?"

"Muggles are the reason why I have no village, no home to go back to. When I was a babe, and brace yourself _malyshka_ , for that was long ago." He snorted at his own joke "My family was attacked by muggles, burned by muggles, I have brothers I'll never remember because muggles."

She knitted her brow together even as she pulled apart the roll he brought as a piece offering, small things at first, small things he wanted in prison, fresh baked bread, firewhiskey, conversation. He brought them to her because he related to her predicament. He brought them because he had wanted them when he was in prison. He didn't want a deeper reason than that.

"Muggles invade, muggles destroy. It is the only reason they exist."

She looked up at him, confusion as she searched his face and he looked away. "What of wizards? Whose homes have you invaded? Whose lives have you destroyed? Does your mother know?"

"She doesn't know." He admitted

"Would she like it?"

It was the first time anyone had asked him about his mother, most people assumed his family had died with the rest of the Russian magicfolk in the 50s during the famine and fires.

"I shouldn't drink when I speak to you, I hate it."

He slept next to her again, he fell asleep drunk, he knew that the firewhiskey was the only thing that kept the nightmares at bay.

* * *

"Tighter and tighter." She said the next day as she poured over the Prophet at dinner.

Yaxley was watching him with a secretive smile and encouraged him to eat more.

"The Order is running out of places to hide, no?" It was Rabastan who replied, buttering a biscuit for Luna.

Rodolphus, who had joined the dinner party two nights ago, peered over at the bushy haired girl next to him.

"I have no doubt that Harry is fine Rabastan," she said looking up from her paper, Rodolphus was now reading over the page trying to find a clue of what she was speaking of. "The Order is much more organized than the Death Eaters, how else would you be able to dine with prisoners three times a day?"

Rodolphus found her wit to be refreshing, and snorted at her joke. She had a bit of light in her eyes as she looked over at the older LeStrange in shared mirth.

"This leash of the Dark Lord's, remember Yaxley?" She said and gave an irritated glance at Rodolphus before pointing out the article she was referencing "Centaurs are being moved to protected habitats. No doubt lambs to the slaughter."

"They're not on any leash, mudblood, you can be assured they're good as dead. Join. or. Die." Lucius shot at her, but there was some sort of odd truce between the teenage girl and the Malfoy patriarch, because she looked disaffected by his words.

A small knowing smile spread on her face. "Umbridge must be behind this law as well."

Yaxley who was pouring himself another overflowing glass of wine looked up "Her prejudice is transparent."

"Dolores Umbridge and Centaurs...have a history together."

Luna made a choking noise next to her.

Yaxley handed her his glass "Drink up girl, drink up and tell me."

* * *

They had just been dismissed from another meeting with the dark lord, Rodolphus was in quiet conversation with Rabastan.

"Come," Yaxley said excitedly to Antonin who was watching them with interest "You know what they're conversing about, blonde hair, dreamy blue eyes, and has a preferred conversation topic of _nargles_. I have something to show you."

Yaxley lived close to the house elves quarters, in a small servant's room that had two cots, one of which belonged to the great lumbering oaf Thorfinn who he saw once in a blue moon .

"Look." He said and pointed to a few bags sitting on his cot, in cursive it said _Harrod's_ in gold lettering on a black bag. "This is what mudbloods wear, I bought some for _you know who_."

"This bag?" He was puzzled, why was Yaxley buying the girl things? Did he harbor some sort of affection for her? A wave of jealousy was tamped down by his next words.

Yaxley tilted the bag over and a pile of clothing, six or seven items at least came spilling out onto the white cot "I wanted you to give it to her, as a thanks."

Fury mixed with jealousy and suddenly the clothing disappeared on the bed. "She doesn't _get_ clothing, Yaxley, she doesn't get anything, she's a prisoner. She's not even human, she's just a mudblood offering to our lord when he finds use of her."

Yaxley rolled his eyes. "She's not a house elf, Antonin, if you give her clothing she doesn't disappear." He grabbed the Herrod's bag and folded it up nicely, tucking in the bottom so it went flat. "You've looked more yourself since you brought her here, we all have. You've started to become Antonin Dolohov who I knew, and not a shell of a man waiting for a stray curse to kill him."

"The girl has nothing to do with it."

Yaxley rolled his eyes and Antonin felt that white hot rage surge up inside of him. He was not some kind of joke to be played at. His relationship with the girl had to stop. He'd get rid of her, plain and simple. If she wasn't around there was no _relationship_ , no rumors, no strange feelings when he came to visit her just before dawn. Everything would go back to normal, everything would be exactly as it should be. He'd be a loyal death eater, and she'd be a mudblood, just another mudblood, savage and vicious.

* * *

When he came down to visit her that evening he had a plan. No bottle of firewhiskey, for he had drank it, no peace offerings of food, for he had felt sick to his stomach the closer he got to her cell.

Rabastan was there speaking to Luna, later than usual, she was such a sickly looking girl, even after all the meals, Rabastan was listening to her patiently detail her plans to find Crumple Horned Snorkacks with her father. She had a new blanket, white and downy, wrapped around her legs as she spoke animatedly with her hands.

It was perhaps the way her eyes recognized him, or the fact that she scooted closer to the bars, her back against the wall, ready to listen, or the way the twisting feeling in his gut made him almost throw up when he saw her scar again.

" _Malyushka_ ," He sighed, and she gave a small smile.

All his secrets spilled out. "I hate you."

"I know," she said matter of fact "I hate you too."

That one hurt, he thought she was rather fond of him, the way she called his name for breakfast, the way she remembered how he liked white tea instead of black, the way she listened to him while he confessed.

"I came to kill you tonight." He said quietly, quiet enough for only her to hear.

She gave a sad smile and watched Luna gesture to how big an average Crumple Horned Snorkack was, and Rabastan mimic the size. A few moment went by "I'd rather it be you than someone else, Dolohov."

"You're making everything complicated."

"No firewhiskey to help sort that out tonight?"

"No, that only makes it worse."

"It helps you sleep." She said looking over at him seriously, his eyes caught the scar again and he wished there was some way to undo what had been done. "Even if it makes you snore."

Rabastan was now going over the miniscule details of the day, he was reminded of an excited school boy speaking to his mother. Rabastan was always left alone, always forgotten behind Rodolphus.

A few more minutes went by, and there was a ding of her weight against the bars as she fell asleep, the first rays of dawn hitting her hair and causing a halo. He scooted close enough to feel her body heat against his and listened to Luna talk about her father's newspaper.

* * *

He woke up to someone furiously shaking him, and he turned his head to see the frightened eyes of the girl he hated and voices shouting around him.

There was screaming, oh but it was so loud and he swore he had only slept a few hours so his head hurt even _worse_. He ran his fingers back through his slick hair and looked up to see Bellatrix torturing Lucius and giggling madly.

"Oh Lucius, not so royal now, are you?" She squealed with glee, a little girl in a candy shop as the red bands of light enveloped Lucius. He was huddled into a far corner and convulsing. "If only my sister was here to see this! Cissa does love to _dote_ on you, even if you treat her like dirt."

Rabastan was shifting nervously from foot to foot behind his older brother, watching with obvious distress. Bellatrix never tortured _just one_.

Antonin turned his head to see Hermione pressed up against the wall, her fingers loosely clung to his robes, twisted in them as she watched in horror, Luna sandwiched behind her and the wall, as far away as they could get from Lucius. Luna's blue eyes were somewhere else, on someone else, and he realized she was watching Rabastan.

Damn this situation, damn and blast! How had Bellatrix not noticed him yet? She was never the most observant, but she was not blind. Fear thrummed through him, a familiar emotion of panic making his fingers itch.

Bellatrix flicked her wand and Lucius flew across the floor, slamming against the wall next to the two girls who were huddled in a corner. Hermione let her hand fall away from him and he felt the loss, her arms coming around Luna for protection. He _felt_ the loss of contact and it stung.

"Oh, oh! The mudblood and the blood traitor, I _forgot_. Well since I punished one blood traitor, why not the next?"

"You know very well you didn't forget." Hermione snapped next to him and he felt his blood run cold. "Or perhaps your memory has gone bad in your old age? Hag." She spat and stood up, Luna pulled her back down.

Why was she taunting Bellatrix? Didn't she know what she was dealing with? Was the witch really that stupid? Antonin had to do something, anything.

He stood up and dusted himself off "Bellatrix, did you come for Lucius, or someone else?"

Bellatrix was advancing on the mudblood even now, even as she smiled sweetly to Antonin "Oh, Tonin," She purred, he hated how she shortened his name "The dark lord has something for Lucius to _fuck up_ again."

"Is it wise, my dear, to keep our lord waiting?" Rodolphus spoke, his voice velvet.

She whirled on her husband "Dolph, oh honey, please just one curse, let me fire it off and we'll leave, I just need...I _need_ to put this mudblood in her place." Her voice edged on desperation, it was almost sexual.

Without so much as a warning a jet of red light took Hermione down like a rock. He stood frozen next to her, listening to her choked breathing as she lay completely still under the cruciatus, her body enveloped in red, her eyes defiant, her lip bled from biting it so hard.

She never screamed, and Antonin felt a surge of pride mix with his fury.

"Now, Bella." Rodolphus hissed after a good thirty seconds.

Bellatrix stamped her foot like an impatient toddler before grabbing a half conscious Lucius Malfoy by the arm and dragging him out with her.

His head lolled to the side and Antonin realized he was staring at the mudblood at the floor, concern clear in his eyes.

Damn this mudblood, damn her for making him so _vengeful_. On the way up from the dungeons all he could think of was ways to make Bellatrix pay.


	3. All I Can Offer & The Telly Doctor

Rodolphus came to Yaxley's room at Malfoy Manor that evening, a few hours after dinner, Antonin was staring down at the empty shot glass as Yaxley paced the six feet of free floor space in the room.

"She's as fine as she's going to get this evening." Rodolphus said closing the door "She's asleep, that's all I can offer."

Rabastan was fidgeting on the bed across from Antonin, his leg bouncing up and down rapidly. Antonin wanted to smack him. Rabastan's voice was hoarse when he spoke. "What of my fairy?"

Rodolphus gave him a look that said _enough_ before he responded "With Lucius gone, there's no excuses to be made, we must avoid the dungeons for the time being."

Rabastan was cowed, and remained quiet, rolling the wine glass between his hands. It was empty, it had long been empty.

"What was so important that she had to fetch Malfoy in the first place?" Antonin asked, trying to recount the morning's events with clarity.

"Something about his son." He said leaning back against the door he had closed "The initiation rites, I suppose."

"But who?" Yaxley asked "Ours were relatively easy targets, muggles and strategic ministry employees."

Rodolphus was quiet for a few moments and all the men in the cramped room listened for a response. Finally, "Bella won't say, she distrusts me since she has begun her affair with Macnair."

Rabastan was taken aback by this "Of course, I forgot, brother."

All the men were silent for a bit. Afraid the next words spoken would bring out more fresh wounds.

"Can't we get a house elf to send them food?" Rabastan asked after the tension in the air got too thick. "I don't want her to go hungry, neither of them really, but Luna is so frail."

"Malfoy may be able to, it's his home." Yaxley said and grabbed the half empty bottle of firewhiskey pouring it into a wineglass before offering the glass to Rabastan. Rabastan grabbed the bottle and took a swig, leaving Yaxley with the glass.

"You are sure?" Antonin finally spoke up as he took the bottle from Rabastan "She is fine?"

"Thirty seconds of Cruciatus is not deadly." Rodolphus admonished.

"But it's her first thirty." Antonin shot back.

Yaxley coughed on his firewhiskey and was about to say something when he was interrupted.

"The first is the worst, it always stays with you." Rabastan said quietly.

He knew Rabastan's first, Bellatrix. Rabastan was a soft boy, and Bellatrix never liked that.

"How strange it is, that we were broken out of Azkaban, only wishing we could all go down to a jail cell." Rodolphus laughed bitterly and took the offered bottle of firewhiskey.

"To our latest prison."

"To prison." The men agreed.

Antonin did not toast. His mother told him that strong women were raised, but mudbloods weren't strong, were they? His mudblood wasn't strong. He was sure of it.

* * *

The hallways were rocking side to side and it reminded him of the boat he took to Azkaban, a little rowboat with barely enough room for him and the LeStrange brothers, Rodolphus held Rabastan's hand and his, resolutely staring at where the dock used to be. Rodolphus had requested that Bellatrix be on a separate boat. The Ministry agreed quickly. He would never forget the warmth of brotherly affection from a man whom he shared no blood.

He skipped a step and almost fell down the rest, leaning against the wall to regain control of himself, and perhaps to calm the oceans of drunkenness.

Luna was cooing to his mudblood, there was another hiss of pain, he heard a ding of metal against bone. When she came into view, hazy as it was, she was gripping the bars and shaking.

"This will pass." Luna said stroking sweaty hair away from her face, her eyes wandered around the jail cell and landed on Antonin.

She saw everything, even if he was cloaked in shadows, she stared at him as if it was plain as day. She opened her mouth and closed it, turning her attention down to her friend, gasping for air.

"I can't, not again." Her voice was hoarse.

She looked so fragile in that moment, Antonin was frozen in place. He hadn't been cursed in so long, was it always this bad? Mudbloods must be weaker to this type of magic, he was sure of it. That's why the Dark Lord had them use it so often. It was because they were Voldemort's preferred curses that they became forbidden, and now, watching her writhe on the floor, he understood why.

He knelt down beside the two of them, separated by bars and by sobriety, his calloused fingers brushing her white knuckles.

Luna remained unaffected, but Hermione moved her head, her teeth clenched, her eyes wide.

He didn't know what to say, there was nothing to say " _Malyushka_ ," his voice was slurred, the firewhiskey did something to him "hold on."

He didn't mean to him, oh merlin, but her fingers let go of the bar and clasped around his so tightly. She was so _warm_. Another tremor shot through her like lightning and she squeezed his fingers painfully.

It was the firewhiskey that made him squeeze back. He shouldn't drink around her. A panicked Yaxley woke him up accompanied by a throbbing headache and a burning forearm.

When he saw her last she was sleeping, curled up in a threadbare blanket. Her hands in small fists as she slept a fitful sleep.

* * *

"Oh I don't care for the mudblood," Yaxley mimicked as they walked next to the docks in Liverpool "She's nothing, says the man who I found holding her hand!"

A tip off, a lead, that some Order members were using this place to ship mudbloods and race traitors off to France. It smelt strongly of fish and oil. The wind whipped Antonin's hair in his face every so often. He disliked the smell of the sea. It reminded him of Azkaban.

"If Bella had found you, the girls would be dead. You're putting her in danger!" Yaxley insisted as they both turned the corner "Holding her hand and sleeping together, you're in love with the girl."

"I am not in love with the girl." Antonin said and fought off a wave of nausea, the sea made him sick. In Russia, the sea was too far to visit, in England, the sea was everywhere. "She's nothing more than an object, _my_ object. I don't know when or why she was holding my hand, probably another mudblood trick."

Yaxley sighed next to them as they went into a small cafe that they liked to use as a stakeout spot, a perfect view of most of the docks, with warm coffee, and unfriendly waitresses. Antonin liked muggle coffee shops, they were less loud than the muggle bars that Yaxley liked to take him to.

"I'm starting to think this was a bad lead." Yaxley said as the waitress left the table with their orders.

Antonin looked at him and raised an eyebrow "Day three and nothing out of the ordinary, what made you _start_ to think? It was a bad lead from the beginning."

"So, why are we here?" Yaxley began to dump heaping spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee.

Antonin knew why they were still in the blustery sea town of Liverpool in early July. He needed time away from the girl, she was poisoning him. His thoughts were becoming consumed by her soft features, her timid smiles, her accusing glares. He shook his head "We are here on orders from our Lord, we should fulfill his wishes."

Yaxley snorted "The only reason we're even with _our Lord_ is because we're trapped."

"I am not trapped."

"Prisoners of our past mistakes." Yaxley scratched his left arm instinctively and grimaced "It was different back then, you know, it felt like we had a cause, to protect our society from the invasion of the muggles and keep us safe from dying out like so many of the other colonies had."

"He freed me from Azkaban. I have to repay that kindness, my service is all I have left." Antonin replied and felt his arm itch the same. He fought the urge to scratch it.

"You were just moved to another prison, a larger prison with gaudy woodwork, Merlin knows what Malfoy was thinking for that interior decoration. All we do is chase after children, it's not the same anymore, yeah?"

Antonin did not respond.

Yaxley pulled out the well used picture that they had been given of some boy named Finnegan who was here in Liverpool. "Tripe, another child, another old grudge."

He looked at the moving yearbook photo of a nervous firstie, looking off at someone else before fidgeting in his seat. "Are your loyalties wavering?" He asked the photo, but Yaxley responded.

"What, I can't be loyal and have complaints? Who said anything about disloyalty."

Antonin looked up at his best friend and noticed he was staring out at the docks, watching the ships bob and the sails flutter in the summer breeze. Did the mudblood like the ocean? He made a mental note of asking her when he came back.

* * *

Lucius was hollow, it was the only way to describe the Malfoy Patriarch. Antonin watched him go from room to room in the manor during the evenings, stopping near portraits who did not speak but only looked on in concern. His son, according to Rodolphus, was tasked with an impossible initiation rite, and the toll on both the Malfoy parents was visible. He had stopped eating, but even though his cheeks were sallow and his eyes were ringed in purple, Antonin remembered the cock ups in the department of mysteries, the way he lorded over the freed Azkaban inmates when they first came to his home, and found no pity.

Now was the time to ask him about possibly getting an elf to feed the prisoners. He was following Lucius to the conservatory when his mark began to burn painfully, and he saw the blonde double over in front of him as well. The Dark Lord enjoyed inflicting pain, before Azkaban, the mark used to tingle, a buzzing feeling against his skin, but now it felt like someone caught his arm on fire. Another thing that changed since he had been freed, another thing for Yaxley to complain about.

He was no longer human, Antonin confessed to Rodolphus one evening about how that unnerved him the most. Rodolphus wondered if it would happen to all of them eventually. Antonin dismissed his drunken ramblings, they would never become like their Lord, they would retain their humanity at all costs.

Antonin walked quickly, hiding his grimace as he crossed the remains of the Malfoy Ballroom, Bella was flitting around the Dark Lord in some kind of dance and three people were already on the floor before him. Two men knelt in front of a body with bushy hair that was contorted painfully on the floor, blood pooling around her face that was twisted in pain.

Antonin knelt on the other side of her, hoping that she recognized him, Lucius came behind him, all royal airs, sniffing as soon as he saw Bellatrix, but took a knee beside Antonin.

"Bellatrix, you're dismissed." He felt the air change when his lord spoke. It became tense.

"Thank you for the fun, my Lord." She squealed and giggled, her skirts brushing against Antonin as she skipped out of the room.

"I have use for your mudblood, Dolohov." The Dark Lord spoke, his words measured. "You, and the LeStrange Brothers." He spit, irritated "will go with her to give her as an offering to Fenrir."

His heart clenched so tightly in his chest, he thought it had stopped. "Fenrir, my lord?"

"As a thank you for being so compliant in the _registration_." He hissed the last word and Antonin suppressed a shudder. "However if things get...a little out of hand, as things often have with those beasts, I need you to contain them."

"Yes my Lord, thank you." three voices in harmony.

"And of me?" Lucius voice was blase, but Antonin could feel how tense he was next to him.

"I must speak to you of Draco, Luciussss."

Antonin hoisted the girl up to her feet, but she was unconscious, and bleeding from somewhere around the hairline. Rabastan grabbed her other arm, and then she was suddenly light.

He looked up to see Rodolphus putting his wand back up his sleeve.

* * *

Yaxley was shaking in the armchair at LeStrange manor, the way the ice clinked in his glass, and the way he closed his eyes every so often made it clear that he was tortured. He had went against the Dark Lord's orders tonight, and he paid dearly. Yaxley was an idiot sometimes, a loyal idiot.

"I wanted to come with you, I didn't want you left alone." He said, realizing that Antonin was staring at him. "Don't mock me."

"I don't need a babysitter." Antonin snapped and looked in the direction the stairs.

His mudblood was upstairs, recovering, he could smell the foul potions being brewed in the kitchen sink by Rodolphus, and Rabastan was gone, sent on a quick mission late in the night. The only company was the fire that crackled and popped, for even if it was the middle of summer the manor was cold. They were waiting for Bellatrix to come back, they had to keep her away from the East Wing.

"And I didn't want to be left alone to rot in the bureaucracy of the Ministry, can't you understand that I want to spend some time with my old friends?" huffed the older man who was staring at the fire intently instead of Antonin. Antonin could sense his embarrassment but said nothing of it.

Yaxley looked his age in the early hours of morning, cruciatus had a way of aging people, his wrinkles looked deeper, his fine white blonde hair was askew, falling over his eyes and framing his face. Every so often he'd look away from him as another wave of pain hit him. Antonin hated that he was in pain, he hated that he knew exactly why he went against the Dark Lord. To spend time with him after Azkaban Yaxley fought the Dark Lord constantly to stay with his best friend.

"You look like hell." Antonin finally said getting up "Take a shower."

Yaxley shot him a look before sipping his firewhiskey again, this time swallowing the rest of the contents in one go before standing up.

"Will you shower with me?" He joked, grabbing onto Antonin's arm.

"Poof." He snapped and covered his friend's hand with his own, stilling the quivering of another aftershock of the cruciatus.

"Only for you, my Russian bear." He purred and they both laughed despite themselves.

Rodolphus was coming from the kitchen and gave them an odd look, but brushed past them with two steaming viles, lavender smoke wafting up past his shoulder, curling and disappearing into the dark ceiling.

"Winty," He called as he walked up the creaky wooden stairs "Please make sure to inform one of us when Mistress Bella is home."

A house elf who looked like she was about to cry popped at the foot of the stairs beside Antonin looked fretfully at her master.

"Yes Master Rodolphus, but about Master Raba-"

"will not be home tonight." He rounded the corner and disappeared from view.

Her ears fell and she snapped her fingers mournfully, disappearing back into the smoky kitchen.

Antonin helped Yaxley up to his room. Unlike Malfoy Manor that was sparse and vast, LeStrange Manor was cramped with the bad taste of generations. Dark objects crowded each room, stacked up in corners with books that hadn't been touched in decades, and portraits took up every available inch of wall space. Despite the gaudy interior decorating, the house was immaculate thanks to the four house elves that fettered around Rodolphus as if he was Merlin himself.

Yaxley's room was decorated in green velvet and snakes carved into the woodwork that moved when people were present. He sneered "Malfoy and LeStrange had the same interior decorator I see."

He laid down on the bed and stared up at the canopy. Antonin took a step back and examined the woodwork for a few minutes " _Stupefy_."

The woodwork stopped writhing and Yaxley thanked him before crawling further up the bed.

"Do you think the girl is okay?" He asked pulling a blanket overtop of himself, rolling over onto his side so that all Antonin could see were black boots and the wisps of white hair at the top.

Antonin sat down and looked out the open door waving his hand so it spelled shut. He didn't want to speak about the damned girl. It was bad enough that he was going to feed her to wolves. Why did he have to care about her wellbeing? He was helpless to do anything about it. Yaxley's words about being trapped came to mind but he shook them away.

"Rodolphus is doting on her as if she was his own, I'm sure she's fine."

"Will you check on her?" Yaxley asked after a few more moments of silence "I want to be sure."

"Check on her yourself, perverted old man." He snarled, sick of the conversation spinning around the mudblood. He hated thinking about her, it was _all_ he could think about.

Yaxley sat up a bundle of blankets and huffed. "Antonin," he snapped, tired and tortured "Quit being a cunt and go see her."

"You're a cunt Yaxley." He snarled.

"Yeah, yeah, at least I'm an honest one." Yaxley got up and Antonin forced him back down.

"I'll see the damned girl!" He snapped and left the room without looking back.

The halls of LeStrange manor were narrow and crowded, if he extended his arms even a slight bit, he'd bump into the frame of a portrait. All the eyes watched him, and he felt the weight of their stares and his decision as he followed the voices of the mudblood and Rodolphus.

The portraits in her room had been removed and stacked neatly outside by a fretting house elf.

"They don't _want_ to be free." Rodolphus stressed, sounding a bit annoyed. "They want to serve, I'll bring them all in front of you, stupid girl, and they will tell you that they _live_ to serve."

"It's slavery, you, of all people, should have some empathy for their situation." She shot back quickly.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Let's see," she sounded exasperated " _bound_ to service, comes when he's called, does his bidding without pay."

"Miss Granger." Rodolphus snapped "Drink your damned sleeping potion and give me peace!"

"Do what you said you'd do."

A pause, Rodolphus sighed "Winty, Sunny, Flossy, and Drolly."

She snickered at the names, the house elf near his feet pushed the door open as he walked into the room. Rodolphus caught his eye and smiled. "Come in Antonin, no need to eavesdrop."

The four elves were lined at the base of the bed and the girl who was unconscious for the last few hours was propped up on so many pillows, her feet touched the baseboard of the bed. She gave him a wary look but turned back to the Rodolphus. He sat down in the chair closest to the door, propping his hand up on his chin.

"Ask."

Rodolphus was slow, but spoke to them evenly "Winty, Sunny, Drolly...Flossy, Young Miss Granger would like to know if you would still work here even if I gave you clothing."

The four of them, clothed in potato sacks and old pillowcases, turned their giant bulging eyes to the girl on the bed. "Yes Old Master."

"Don't call me old." He groused and looked back at Hermione who now crossed her arms across her chest. "See?"

"It's a start, we'll talk about payment later, and weekends!" She insisted, the elves looked horrified.

"Dismissed!" Rodolphus shoved the vial in her hand and stood up, towering over her. "Sleep, we leave for the countryside in the morning."

"So we're still killing her then? Feeding her to the wolves?" Antonin asked darkly from the other side of the room.

"Miss Granger has...a plan of sorts." Rodolphus looked wary "If all else fails, I have a plan of sorts." He said and rounded the bed.

She tipped the vial back and grimaced before gently laying it down on the nightstand. "If you want to call what you have a plan."

Rodolphus left, he could hear the worried voices of house elves outside "Master Rodolphus, no clothes, master. No clothes!"

He was left alone with her, she yawned and turned over so she was facing him. She looked so young in an oversized button up shirt, most likely Rodolphus' own, and a bed that was far too large for her.

"Dolohov," she yawned again, the sleeping potion was beginning to take effect "Is Luna okay?"

"Rabastan is most likely with the girl." He looked her over, the way her hair fell in front of her face while she slept, her brown eyes were unfocused, but he felt uncomfortable under her gaze.

"Good," She said, her eyes closing "I wanted them to take me, I had to make Bellatrix take me."

"Why?" He recalled her stunt in the dungeons and frowned.

"Rabastan needs her, can't you tell?" Her voice was quiet "I always thought Death Eaters were pure evil, and only thought about torturing and raping, and whatnot, but he's a bit different...isn't he?"

Her fingers relaxed on the bed sheets, her breathing evened out as she fell asleep, and Antonin felt himself unwind. No longer tense, worried of her direct and searching questions, the house was quiet save for the two of them.

He realized he didn't know much about her aside from her name, the color of her eyes when she was angry, and her unwavering loyalty to her blonde friend. She was caught next to the blonde friend, Luna, but at the time he didn't care about anything but his mudblood, he had never seen such a majestic creature as her in battle, bleeding but wand striking through the air, firing curses he had never seen before.

His eyelids were heavy and Antonin was almost asleep when she groaned and then _crack_ , a messy house elf apparition into the room that startled them both.

"Master Rabastan! In the foyer, please!" The house elf shouted and flung itself at his feet, sobbing as it's wiry fingers wrapped around his legs.

He didn't move before _she_ did, a mess of blankets and hair, stumbling to the door, her eyes not even open. "Leadtheway." It came out in one breath and Antonin grabbed her.

"What a-"

 _Pop_ , they were in the foyer and Rabastan was bleeding, clutching his arm, sobbing and bent over on his knees. His hair was sweaty and greasy, a death eater mask tossed on the carpet, three house elves were lamenting their master, unable to do anything.

"Ro-us" she murmured next to him, yawning before rubbing her eyes.

Antonin looked at her strangely and then back up the stairs "Where _is_ he?"

"Master Rodolphus has gone with Mistress Bellatrix and Master Yaxley." Winty, he remembered this elf because she was closest to the kitchen

"My fault." She said and got to her knees next to Rabastan. Her body hunched over, her head hanging. He was sure she wasn't awake, how could she be anything else after drinking an entire vial of sleeping draught.

Her fingers were gentle as she pried Rabastan's hands away from the wound. He did not look at her. Once his fingers were gone from the bloody wound, neither could Antonin. His arm was cut so deep they could both see the whites of bone in the candlelight of the foyer. She didn't seem phased and began to grab at her shoulder sleeve.

"Dolohov," she looked back at him blearily "rip the shirt, I need to stop the bleeding."

"Get some gauze, you useless creatures." He barked and all four of the house elves disappeared. "Murtlap, Blood Replenisher, Skin Mending, or Rodolphus will hear of it and you'll be serving the girl for the rest of the week!"

"Mister LeStrange," Hermione was careful, even if her voice was rough from screaming earlier "Is this the only wound?"

He shook his head, and she turned back to him, oh how he wished she didn't. "We have to get him to bed, I need to…" her words cut off and her eyes fluttered shut, suddenly they snapped back open, wide and fearful, she looked back at him "check the wounds."

Strange things happened after two in the morning to Antonin, nightmares, bottles of firewhiskey mysteriously becoming empty, and his mudblood becoming all important. He picked her up around the waist, slinging her over his shoulder before levitating Rabastan.

"Wandless and Wordless?" She spoke next to his ear, he suppressed a shiver, she was so close and so warm it was hard to. "Amazing."

Her compliments made him warmer than firewhiskey ever could hope. He hated her for her kindness. He hated her for how soft her body was when he held it, trying to ignore the feelings of her bare thighs against his forearms. He'd dream about it for days, he did.

When he set her down in her own bedroom, Rabastan floating onto the bed, his blood beginning to dye the bed sheets red, she crawled onto the bed next to him, yanking open his robes with such forcefulness she fell over.

A crack of apparition and the elves carried a tray of medical items. She gave a look of confusion before realizing she also could order these things around. Mudbloods didn't have house elves, he recalled. "If you would be so kind…" she began, her fingers still unbuttoning his shirt "A pepperup potion, tea, and hot water with soap. I'd rather like…" He was incredulous at her manners "if it's not too much to ask, that one of you stay."

"Winty stays Mistress 'Mione."

She looked stricken at this and turned away "Hermione, Hermy, never 'Mione."

"Winty will go shut her fingers in the drawer Mistress Herm-Hermione."

"No," Antonin cut in "You will stay put until she orders you to do something else."

 _Pop_ , and there was an elf with a tea set, a pepperup potion steaming next to a gaudy set of china.

She almost fell over Rabastan. He stopped struggling and now stared up at the ceiling, motionless, his labored breathing the only sound in the room. She grabbed the pepperup potion and downed it all, tossing it at the foot of the bed and ripping open Rabastan's shirt, buttons flying off.

He saw it then, a hole near the last rib on the side closest to her, she must have seen it too because her fingers grazed over it.

"Shot? How in the blazes did you-" She looked back at him, her brows knitted together, her eyes still half closed, steam coming out of her ears. "Shot, Dolohov?"

When he didn't respond, she gave up on getting an explanation.

"Winty," she said looking up at the one closest to her and made a motion with two fingers open and closing "Can you please find me a pair of forceps, maybe from your Master's potion lab?"

The house elf looked at her incredulously before disappearing, no doubt imagining all the terrible things that the mean mudblood would do to him. She grabbed hot water and began to clean the wound on his arm without asking any more questions, the bed getting soaked through with soap and water and his blood.

She looked satisfied and began to bandage him up, murmuring thanks every so often when he hissed but did not move. After she tucked the last of the gauze into itself she turned back to the expanse of his torso, he was thin, painfully so, a smattering of dark hair and blood.

When Winty returned there was no pop of house elf apparation, it was completely silent.

"Mistress Hermione," She looked up, nonplussed "I have the grabbers."

She grabbed them, silver forceps for potions making, to hold hot vials and bottle them. Hermione turned back to Antonin and he tensed up, worried.

"I don't have a wand," She yawned again, her eyes shutting and she swayed. They snapped back open. "Transfigure these into a point." She pointed to the curved ends of the forceps.

He took them from her, ignoring the sensation of her magic as they brushed fingers, and did as she asked. It was only when he handed it back to her that he realized her hands were shaking.

"Accio-ing the bullet." She explained as she tested them out "may worsen the wound, the only way is the hard way, I saw it on the telly once, so let's…" She turned back to Rabastan who heard that she was not qualified at all to do this, but Antonin got on the bed beside her, holding his chest down. He didn't know what a telly was, but he had seen a bullet removed in much the same way.

"Bite the pillow, Rab." He said gruffly as the girl swiped the wound with a bloody rag, making it worse, not better.

Her hands were shaking, her whole body was, and he realized she too was suffering from her torture earlier. She closed her eyes and willed it to pass, wavering slightly before opening them again, focused on what she needed to do. With one hand splayed around the wound, holding it open, she began to dig around with the transfigured forceps, grimacing as more blood flowed out of the wound.

The clink of metal meeting metal, a small smile on her face and she yanked it out quickly, a small lead bullet, no bigger than his thumbnail was dripping blood on her forceps and down onto her hand.

Rabastan looked like he had already died because he was terrified. His mudblood however was victorious, tossing both the forceps, and the bullet on the bed, her hands covered in blood, grabbing another roll of gauze and a yellow vial of what he assumed was murtlap. She poured the vial of murtlap a bunch of gauze before beginning to work.

"I won't ask questions," She said as she stuffed the wound with yellow tinged bandage "Not tonight. I don't think I'll remember."

Rabastan used his free hand to touch her arm in thanks, and she gave him a wan smile. Antonin sat back from them as she started smelling the potions the house elves had brought her, handing them to him and explaining.

He was asleep after he took the last potion and she looked back at Antonin, covered in blood, streaks across her face, her eyes bloodshot and unfocused. "Done. I'm done."

He knew what she wanted before she even asked, and it was a few hours before dawn when he picked up his bloody mudblood, who had somehow fought off the sleeping draught she had been given to patch up Rabastan, and carried her to his room.

 _Scourgify_ , and she was clean, he cast another, and he was too. Her soft even snores as her head rested against his shoulder. He heard the pitter patter of elf feet as he walked down the hall, choosing to ignore them.

He laid her down gently to the first rays of dawn, barking at an elf to close the damned curtains. She was so thin and fragile, weak and feminine. She wasn't like a pureblooded woman, she wasn't strong. So why did she always try to put herself in situations where she could break?

Antonin slid into bed beside her, drawing the curtains on the canopy bed closed so that peeping portraits could not see the two of them.

"Bring Rodolphus to Rabastan when he returns." Antonin said to the house elves lurking at the foot of the bed, he could _feel_ them even if he couldn't see them "If Bellatrix returns alone, find me immediately."


	4. Feeding the Wolves

Rabastan was feeding his mudblood in the same way he fed Luna at the very , _very_ late breakfast of which she insisted. He was buttering a croissant with such care that one would think he was presenting it to the queen. This was his way of saying thanks, but she didn't seem to care for it. They were all crowded in a small kitchen with an english breakfast on tea stands that were so high, they had to _accio_ food from the highest platter. It was a raucous breakfast. Owls delivering letters, Yaxley and Rodolphus in lively conversation over another cock up at the ministry, a potion steaming in the sink.

The kitchen wasn't gaudy like the rest of the manor as much as it was old. Old wood, old cabinetry, and countertops that were stained with the remnants of a thousand dinners gone by. Pots and Pans floated above their heads as early afternoon light streamed it's way across the floor.

She was irritated that Rabastan chose to feed her, which pleased Antonin to no end. "I was not the one that was bleeding all over the foyer last night." She said grabbing a croissant from him and glaring. "Explain yourself."

He found that he was jealous of the ease that Rabastan had with the two witches, always doting on them, always near them.

Rabastan looked over at Rodolphus and then to her. "Well, it's kind of a long story actually."

She actually rolled her eyes at him. The most feared brothers in the Dark Lord's employ didn't seem to phase her much. "We have time."

"We don't actually," Yaxley interrupted and gave him a strange look before producing a bag, another bag like the one from before _Harrod's_.

She let out a bark of laughter "You went to Harrod's?" Her face suddenly changed, and she seemed to realize what company she was keeping "Keep it."

The table went quiet, and the bag transfigured to a copy of the prophet. "Is this more your taste, love?" Yaxley asked waving it at her.

She looked shy for once, he liked this look, and a small hand darted out from under the table to grab the newspaper.

 **MUGGLE MINISTRY IN CHAOS**

Hermione looked up from the headline to Rabastan who gave her a mischievous look over the top of his china.

"Idiot."

"Of course." He said, his words muffled by the empty cup.

She opened up the paper, and looked up, as if waiting for someone to chastise her for reading at the table, but breakfast resumed, and it was only after a few minutes that Yaxley interrupted her.

"Alright love, time to get ready to go, it's a bit of a hike to visit Fenrir."

She closed her eyes briefly, and he wondered at that moment what she was thinking because a few emotions flickered across her face before she opened her eyes to stare out the window.

She wore a strange combination of clothing as Rodolphus fussed over the girl. Some of it was clearly Bellatrix's, a long black skirt paired with the white button up shirt she slept in, her hair was a tousled mess and she had bunched the sleeves around her elbows.

Yaxley was waiting next to him, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched them at the foot of the stairs. "Rodolphus lost a daughter." He said quietly "She would be the same age as our little prisoner, so I think he sees his child in her."

The mudblood was swatting at him as he tried to fix her hair.

"What happened to the child?" asked Antonin.

"Bellatrix killed her when she was only two." Yaxley sounded pained "She didn't like sharing. Rodolphus loved that child. He still does."

Antonin knew the witch was mad, but to be mad enough to kill her own child? He looked at Rabastan who was conversing with the house elves just off in the sitting room because he didn't want Rodolphus to see the pity in his eyes. A daughter, Merlin, the same age as the girl he had slept with last night. He was truly going mad. Not a girl, not even human. A part of his mind shot back. Mudblood, _mudblood._

Yaxley walked over to Rodolphus and transfigured her clothing to fit her, the skirt no longer sagged off her thin body, but hugged her waist, and the shirt was well fitting, the boots she had picked, tightened around her feet. He handed her a copy of the prophet and gave her a wink. His mudblood always needed to have the paper it seemed. She looked down at it incredulously, but then Rodolphus started messing with her hair again.

"Stop it, stop it!" She cried, irritated "Let's just _go_ , I'm not going to the Yule Ball, appearance doesn't matter."

"And you're sure?" Rodolphus said.

She tugged at her tight white shirt, annoyed and shot him a glare. Then she turned on Yaxley. "Loosen this. Immediately. I look like a tart."

Yaxley laughed and walked out the door, waving for everyone to follow, but Antonin waited until his mudblood was standing next to him, looking up at him expectantly. "Ready?"

He studied her, clean and dressed up she looked like a woman, almond shaped eyes that saw more than anyone else. She was diminutive in size compared to the rest of the men, only coming up to his chest, her hair gave her a few extra inches in height. She had a folded up copy of the Daily Prophet in her hand.

She stepped into doorway, watching all the other men who were milling about in the gravel in front of the manor house. It was bright outside and the light filtered in, giving her a striking glow. The mudblood looked back at him and gave him a shy smile "Dolohov."

"Daylight is burning!" yelled Yaxley.

The way she said his name, even if it was just his last name, was on repeat in his mind for the next hour.

* * *

She was _slow_ , mudbloods, he decided, were not built for hiking, more often than not they would get twenty or so paces in front of her before they waited

They had started too late, she was too slow, the forest was too dense, and he was irritated. The sun was low on the horizon as they walked uphill on a barely worn path, it caught on her skirt every so often and she had to spend an extra minute untangling things.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" He seethed as they stopped for the sixth time in since they had set off two hours ago.

She was panting and ripping the skirt again, some kind of bush had come out and grabbed it, it's thorns dug into the fabric. She shot him a glare "Do you _think_ , Dolohov, that putting on some kind of velvet skirt was what I had in mind to walk up a ruddy mountain?"

"Antonin," Rodolphus said spelling her skirt free and then blasting the bush into pieces "Temper."

He was always short tempered, he knew it wasn't something he should be proud of, but why was she so _useless_! If she wasn't laid up in bed, she was getting tortured. If she wasn't getting tortured, she was slowing them down.

"We have to get there before nightfall, or we might as well just wait for them to come and eat us." Antonin snapped.

Rabastan, who was in front of the mudblood, offered his hand out to her. "We'll walk at your pace, Hermione."

She didn't take his hand but instead trudged up past all of the men, and in front of him. "I'm not _weak_ and I can do this thank you very much." Her face was flushed red and she was covered in a fine sheen of sweat, her hair sticking to her skin as she looked back at them expectantly "Well?"

Yaxley scourgified her again and she was clean. "Enough! You insufferable man!"

He laughed, Antonin wondered if he had ever seen his friends in such good spirits before.

She was at a good pace for all of twenty minutes, and then she began to slow, Antonin walked beside her "Useless mudblood."

"Disgusting deatheater." She said and increased her pace again.

" _Otrod'ye_." He shot back and walked faster to catch up.

"I don't need to know Russian to know you're being a prat, Dolohov." She was now running to catch up with him.

"Spoiled br-"

She fell into him with a quiet "ow" and he turned to catch her but she was already on her hands and knees on the dusty trail.

He hoisted her up and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Put me down, Dolohov! Put me down!"

It took all of ten minutes for her to stop protesting and remain still as they made their way up to Fenrir's camp in half the time it would have taken if she walked.

He liked the way her face changed when she saw something unexpected, a moment of surprise and then calculation. Fenrir's camp was definitely something unexpected. Metal buildings and barracks, children running around the square, women in quiet conversation on benches and tree stumps. He lived on top of a mountain, as close as he could get to the moon and the furthest he could get from people.

As they walked through the busy square, interrupting a game of tag around a campfire that was only ashes in the late afternoon sun the din of the village died out. Wizards had come, wizards and a small girl. They were foreboding in their dark death eater robes, his mudblood was not pleased when they donned them just outside the walls of the werewolf village. She asked if they would at least keep their masks off. He found it to be a reasonable request. Sometimes, when she was not being useless, she was reasonable.

Rodolphus stayed close to her, with Rabastan trailing behind his older brother. Yaxley was chatting up some women who were leaning against the largest building, every so often they'd look away from him and to the children who were still as they watched the group of non-werewolves interact.

Yaxley pointed to a large wooden cabin up against the treeline and Rodolphus grabbed her arm and whispered something furiously. She shook her head quickly and looked back at him. Her eyes grew defiant and she walked ahead of all of them. Antonin found himself following her just to see what the _plan_ was.

There were two men, barely clothed, that sat on the steps to the cabin, tanned and dirty, their hair matted, they sniffed the air like dogs before turning towards her.

"I would like to request to see your alpha." She said, holding her hands out, palms up and empty. He saw the scratch marks from where she had fallen earlier.

One of the men, a dirty blonde with a large scar running down the side of his face got up and walked around her before heading inside.

She looked back at them and the confidence was replaced with a slight tinge of fear. A few moments passed in silence, the sun now completely gone from the sky, the shadows grew long, and the crowd behind them grew larger. Antonin found himself annoyed by the situation. Why were they waiting? Why not just go inside and have him kill her quickly?

The blonde came out with another man, this one dark haired and wearing more clothes. He looked almost respectable. The mudblood looked at him and showed him her hands again "I would like to request to see your alpha."

The respectable man looked back at the wizards and then to her "Alone?"

She shook her head "I will bring one of my pack with me, as is customary."

 _Customary_? Where the hell did she learn what was customary for a bunch of savage werewolves?

"That one." He said and pointed towards Antonin "That one will do."

Rodolphus looked away at the woods, trying to hide his disappointment.

Antonin stepped up behind her, feeling strangely protective. He noticed that her hands were shaking and wanted to do something to make it stop. She hiked up her skirt and walked up the steps into the cabin, giving one last look at the remaining wizards before they shut the door.

"So you're going to be nice before they eat you?" He asked as they waited in the large den for other men to arrive.

"No," She replied, pacing in front of the fireplace "Many people do not know that werewolves have customs and courtesies. I did a report on them in my fourth year."

It was sweltering inside the cabin and they were alone for five or so minutes, her fidgeting was driving him mad. Finally, the great hulking man, Fenrir Greyback, came with the dark haired respectable man from earlier. Fenrir had dirty blonde hair, which, like the rest of him, was absolutely dirty. Did the man ever shower? He collapsed on the large leather chair closest to the fire, and motioned for him to do the same.

"No," she hissed pushing him to the side "You're my envoy, just stand like he is."

Did the mudblood think he was better than he was? How dare she think that she could boss him around! She sat in the chair quickly, pulling her hair back away from her face and exposing her neck, he was surprised to see Fenrir do the same.

She smiled and settled back into the seat, his fingers gripped the top of the leather wingback chair. She was sweating again, but didn't show her discomfort.

There was a few moments where nothing happened and then the hulking werewolf spoke. "It has been a _very_ long time since a wizard has come to show me proper manners!" He laughed "I have been told you were coming Hermione Granger."

"Good." She said "Have you been told why I am here?"

"You are what the Dark Lord intends to placate me with." He snarled "A girl that's all bones in exchange for tracking my entire family."

"I probably could do with more food." She said and gave him a smile "I haven't eaten dinner yet, I might get thinner even still."

He turned to the respectable man and said something Antonin couldn't hear before the respectable man left through a side door into another room. "Let's eat! Let's eat then, before I decide to eat you."

She had her hands folded in her lap, and no one spoke again until a large platter of meat and mead came out She waited for him to begin eating before she picked at some meat on the platter and then spoke with the drumstick in hand.

"I am here to give you something you want, and if you do not want it, Alpha Fenrir, then please eat me."

"What could a whelp like you possibly have?" He lowered his gaze to her lap "If no meat, then perhaps you're old enough to bear pups?"

She laughed. "While it would be an honor, I'm sure, I have something of greater value."

Antonin felt his blood boil, how dare this savage think of _fucking_ his mudblood. His fingers made a noise as he tore the fabric of the chair.

She looked up at him, a flash of nervousness in her eyes before turning back to Fenrir. She tossed him the newspaper she was holding. "Some interesting news I've been reading lately." She took a sip of the mead and laid back against the seat, crossing one leg over the other.

 **MAGICAL CREATURE REGISTRATION ACT**

He growled low and his eyes turned on her, he looked furious. "You've come into my home to make a mockery of me?"

"Alpha Fenrir, muggles have a saying, never judge a book by it's cover." She tore the drumstick apart delicately.

He opened the folded paper and three parchments fell out from inside. He thumbed through them and looked up at her, surprised. "Copies?"

Antonin looked down at her but the way she was sitting he could only see the top of her head.

"Originals." She said "While I do not like you personally, Alpha Greyback, I do not agree with this law either. It's criminal to track people and single out people as second class citizens simply because they are werewolves. I know a very kind werewolf who has suffered long due to his... _gift_ …" Here she struggled for a minute, Antonin tried to peek at what she had given Fenrir "this law is just another wrongdoing in a list of wrongs by the ministry, and of course, your lord."

Fenrir read over the parchments before looking up at her again "What do you want from me?"

"Two things" She said setting her wooden mead pint down on the table again. "I want you to burn that list, and I want you to kill me."

It was the first time Antonin had ever seen Fenrir Greyback look upset "You give me a great gift and ask me to take your life?"

"No," She said shaking her head "I want you to tell everyone I died here. I wouldn't ask you to take my life."

He got up and tossed the parchments into the fire. "That's all?" He turned back to her, and Antonin realized that Greyback was even taller than he was. If he attacked them now, it was all over for the both of them.

She nodded. "That's all."

"Granted." He said, he smiled and they both could see his canines.

She let out a breath she had been holding and smiled up at him. It was radiant. He felt his heart beat a little bit faster in his chest and he was sure that it was fear that Greyback was going to kill them both.

Greyback grabbed her hand and pulled her up painfully fast. "Come," he said pulling her along "This is not _food_. I will get us food."

He was being too rough with her, pulling her along behind him like she was some ragdoll. She moved jerkily, her feet struggling to keep up with the werewolf's long strides. Didn't Fenrir know that she was just a mudblood? That she was fragile and weak?

"Don't touch her!" Antonin said grabbing her other arm.

She looked at him, confused, and Fenrir stopped. His joyful expression became dark. Confusion turned into a false smile and turned back to Fenrir.

"Dolohov, go get the others, everything is fine, this is customary."

There was a lot that the mudblood knew about werewolves, and it was evident the longer she spent talking to the most fearsome werewolf alive that she was quick on the uptake. She sat to Antonin's left, picking at different meats that were presented to her by the respectable werewolf, Donovan was his name, Rodolphus sat across from her, and Rabastan next to him.

Eating with werewolves was _loud_ , everyone had a conversation and no one had manners. The square had been turned into a long dining hall, a bench that stretched more than thirty feet and an equally long table. A fire was at one end where the food was cooked, and was passed up the line, starting with Fenrir first, Donovan and then his mudblood got third choice.

"Rodolphus went to the Ministry with me and got the list of registered wolves last night." Yaxley said picking at some deer meat that had come by just recently. "Now that she's dead, there's no more danger, everything has sorted out nicely. Bellatrix is such a little fool, thinking we needed access to the list for a murder. I suppose, in a way, we did."

"Cheers to that!" said Rabastan across from them.

She was looking down at the food she had chosen pensively, listening to Greyback tell a very long winded story about his father and how wolves used to live before the muggles drove them off the land. It was a familiar story, it was the same as Antonin's story afterall. The top of the mountain was old magic, druids thousands of years before had driven any non-magical beings away. Myths of werewolves kept even wizards away for hundreds of years. "It's safe here," he insisted "for my pack, for everyone."

She looked up from her plate "Why did you join Vol-" Antonin nudged her sharply "the Dark Lord if you despise wizards?"

"Our Lord despised muggles, no offense mudblood, but he promised my pack protection from the thing that killed off my ancestors. Muggles invade, they build, they colonize, and they _kill_."

"I've heard it before." She said "But children, Alpha Fenrir? Cruel."

"Ah, well," he looked a bit cowed at this "It's savage to you, of course, but if they are pups they transition easier, they won't die when they are young, the wolf is young within them, a weak wolf, a weak child, a successful transformation. A weak wolf, an unwilling adult, they get stuck between."

"Between?" She perked up at this "I've never heard of a between, a type of werewolf?"

"Not wolf, not human, _between_. When you are stuck between, you are killed. Betweens have no mind, they have no wolf, they are no more than a sack of flesh." Fenrir was handed a platter of meat by a topless woman "Children will survive and flourish, adults...if they are unwilling, they will suffer."

"What of the adults who you turned as children who are _still_ unwilling?" She shot back, obviously this was a personal topic to her. She had that fire in her eyes, her posture was tense.

"A werewolf who denies his wolf is going to suffer, if you denied your magic, wouldn't you suffer?" He waved her off as if she was speaking nonsense "Wolves who deny what they are are fools. It will eat away at them."

"Your lord wishes to deny me magic." She said haughtily, now no longer even picking at her food. " _You_ do his bidding."

"I would not deny you magic, pup, mudbloods are not my reason for following him, muggles are. Don't be daft, you heard my story."

"Is it really you?" A voice called on the other side of Antonin. She froze.

"Dolohov." She bowed her head and grew very still beside him. "Please, we need to leave."

He stood up quickly and Fenrir did as well, suddenly half the table was up save for her.

"Hermione?" the voice called again, a man's voice. "Hermione Granger!"

Antonin looked over to see a thin man in patched robes who had just wandered into view, dark circles under his eyes, and messy light brown hair.

"Well," Fenrir said and clapped his hands, "Come crawling back to me Remus? Sick of fighting your nature?"

"I came to retrieve the girl, Greyback." The man named Remus had his wand out and Rodolphus made a quick move for his own. "You will not be taking another _under your wing_."

Fenrir darted his eyes to her and then back to the man "Mind your manners, whelp." He growled

Antonin hoisted her up from the table and she stepped behind him, he could feel her back to his, she was shaking. Who was this man? Even before Bellatrix LeStrange she was not this terrified.

Yaxley stepped back to see her, holding a drumstick in one hand and a goblet of wine in the other. "What's the problem, love?"

"The Order is coming, we have to lead them away, or we've as good as killed all these wolves we just saved." Her voice was shaking "We have to go back down the mountain."

"Miss Granger," The man named Remus approached them with his wand out and Rodolphus and Rabastan were both walking backwards away from him. "No need to worry, friends are on their way."

"We can't." She pleaded "We _have_ to go, they'll kill them all."

"Fine," Antonin said, not sure why he was agreeing with her, who gave a shit about a few wolves? He frowned. She did apparently, that's all that seemed to matter to his friends lately. "I will ca-"

"No, I will run, and you will follow." She said "It'll mislead them, they only are here for me. Fenrir will start a fight, it'll put everyone in danger."

"Idiot girl."

"Dolohov." She said in a whisper "Cast a tracking charm."

His mind ran through about seven, but finally, he settled on one. She glowed a dull orange that blended in with the bonfire behind them before it disappeared. He could sense her now, it was like a magnetic pull that he had to try and ignore. His heart was beating wildly, he realized how stupid this plan was, how stupid they all were for following her.

"Wait here for The Order, follow me after you make sure the wolves are safe."

Bleeding heart mudblood. He turned around to tell her what an idiot she was, but there was no time.

"Professor Lupin! Help!" She screamed and the whole camp was thrown into chaos as his mudblood ran off into the woods and the wolves dispersed. The magnetic pull between them growing strong and stronger as she went further and further away.

Yaxley continued to eat his drumstick as the wolf called Remus, followed by Donovan, and Fenrir chased after her. "She's clever, that one." He said with a mouthful of what he assumed was chicken.

"Idiot girl, stupid, idiot girl." Antonin growled.

Rabastan looked nervous next to Rodolphus "We should just kill The Order, and be done with this damned war and get back to normal." The younger LeStrange said, looking back over her shoulder.

"Not tonight, Rab." Rodolphus said "Let's not get our hands dirty while your arm is still healing up. By the looks of things, Fenrir and his pack will take care of it for us."

Yaxley sat back down at the table and started cutting up his venison, shoving a few forkfuls in his mouth before something that sounded like a crack of thunder blew through the trees. The campsite was empty now, the wolves had scattered.

Yaxley took a forkful of meat, and a tankard of mead and began to walk towards the treeline. "Come on, we have a job to do."

"From one master to the next." Groused Antonin as he followed the shorter man.

"Don't let her hear you compare her to the Dark Lord." Rodolphus said behind him and they all stood just within the forest, a few feet away from the beginning of the clearing, shrouded in darkness. "She'll throw a fit."

The Order, which was mostly Ministry aurors, from what Antonin could tell, walked into the clearing, wands drawn and lit with dim _lumos_.

Mad Eye Moody, how on earth was that man still _alive_ , the animagus woman that was related to Bellatrix, the black auror Kingsley, and some others he didn't recognize.

"Gone, blasted scum." Mad Eye's gruff voice carried over the clearing. "Where are the wolves? I wanted Greyback."

A silvery wolf, a patronus, bounded into the clearing "In the woods, chased, need backup."

"No time for Greyback," Kingsley said "We have to get the girl, Dumbledore's orders."

"Time to go." Yaxley said beside him and unsheathed his wand, tossing the goblet of wine into the bushes. "Give us a distraction Dolph."

" _Lumos Maxima_." hissed Rodolphus, there was silence, and then a _boom_ as the clearing was filled with a blinding white light.

The four men fled deeper into the woods, following behind Antonin who was blinding following his tracking charm. The blind leading the blind.

* * *

"It says she's here." Antonin said, pacing around a tree for the third time. "I can feel her pull."

A rustle of leaves, and Rabastan cast a lumos, he could hear the Order not too far off, had she already been caught? "Are you sure you cast it right?"

Rabastan was an idiot, Antonin decided. He was furious, he knew he cast the spell correctly.

"Up _here_!" A voice said overhead, they all looked up to see their mudblood sitting on a tree branch, rattling it to get their attention.

"For Merlin's sake," Rodolphus said beside her "Get down girl."

She looked over at the trunk of the tree and then back at them. "I'm stuck, I don't really like heights you know."

"No, we _didn't_ know." Antonin said, his fury seeping into his voice " _doora_ , stupid girl."

"I can't move." She said "I'm just going to fall, okay?"

"Mudblood!" Antonin hissed and the voices around them grew louder. "Don't you dare."

She slid off the branch and made a little squealing noise.

" _Locomotor Mortis_." Yaxley said beside him, and she fell down slowly onto the forest floor.

She was shaking and gave him a weak smile. "Thanks."

There was a bounding of feet and suddenly Fenrir and two other wolves appeared next to them. "Leave, we take care of our own." He barked at them.

Antonin dragged her up to him and with a crack, he apparated them both out of the forest.

 _Why_ didn't she want to go back with her friends? He had kidnapped her, cursed her, insulted her, and worse. She was terrified when someone recognized her, more terrified even than when Bellatrix had found her.

"Like it or not," she had said before she disappeared to take a shower "I am here to stay, for a little while at least."

He was still sitting in his room, _her_ room now, she had co-opted it after Rabastan had bled all over the bed she was recovering in. A house elf was waiting with food for the _Young Mistress_ and both him, and the elf, listened to the hiss of the shower and the steam billowing underneath the dark wooden door.

Rabastan popped in only once, asking if she was out yet, but he looked at the bathroom door and shrugged, disappearing back downstairs. Yaxley was pacing outside the room, still dirty from the forest. How pathetic they must all seem to be at the beck and call of a young girl.

Hermione popped out, covered in towels, her hair done up in some kind of wrap, he could see the scar he gave her shining white against her red scalded skin, small scratches covered her arms and legs. "Okay, okay, I'm ready to talk."

"Young Mistress _must_ eat." The kitchen elf Winty squeaked next to her, in a new outfit, a yellow sundress with green socks. "Old Master orders her to eat."

"Of course he does." She eyed Antonin who was sitting in a chair with a bottle of firewhiskey in one hand and an empty glass in the other. "What are you doing, Dolohov, trying to get a peep?"

"I don't like children." He growled. She certainly didn't look like one at this moment, his mudblood was dripping wet and looked like a water sprite.

"I'm not a child, Dolohov."

"Fifth Year."

" _Eighteen_ , thanks to my time turner."

He looked away then, pouring another shot for himself.


	5. Fireside Pledges & Garden Pacts

He found that she always liked smaller rooms, more intimate ones than the usual gaudy parlors that most purebloods loitered in. A few minutes later, she was thanking the elves for the food and pouring tea in her towel for all the men in the house.

"I will explain this only once," She said, stirring sugar into Rodolphus' tea before handing it to him. "Because I am sure that if even one of you disagrees with me, I will be killed."

She added extra lemon to Yaxley's and handed him his saucer before pouring a shot of firewhiskey into the cup, filling up the rest with tea before handing it to Antonin.

"I only ask," her voice was shaking now "That you listen to me before you kill me."

Sugar and milk for Rabastan and for herself. She sat down last and two men sat on the bed, three sat around the table by the fire. He was closest to her, sipping his tea the way he liked it best, when had she learned _that_. He frowned at how familiar she was with his habits.

"I want to kill the Dark Lord." She said, not looking at any of the men, just at her tea cup, which she was stirring, fidgeting "I want this war to be over. I want people to be able to live lives without serving one master or another. I want your help."

She looked around the room, and resigned to her death, but no one moved. Antonin stared at her like she had grown a second head. What did he really expect from a girl he had kidnapped with Harry Potter? She was bold, he had to give her that, to sit down with the Dark Lord's finest and most loyal, and ask them to betray him had to take guts.

It was Rabastan who spoke first "Explain."

Antonin knew he would betray as soon as he got a chance, disgusting.

"When you," she looked at him "decided to kidnap me from the Department of Mysteries, we found a prophecy that foretells the Dark Lord's defeat by Harry Potter-"

"Impossible, he's a child." Rodolphus cut her off.

She turned to him "Explain the prophecy then! Why did the Ministry have it if it was impossible! The Ministry clearly knows that it's true, or else it wouldn't be a secret." She calmed herself a little, upset about her outburst. "Okay, I'm sorry. I think we should just focus on getting rid of his followers, first, the vampires, the werewolves, the giants, the magical creatures that are bound to him, and then...maybe it'll give Harry what he needs-"

"Give us a reason then," Yaxley said "Go on, love. Give us a reason why we shouldn't say no and kill you right now."

She looked up at him and he saw it then, the fire that made him kidnap and keep her in the first place "No more missions, raids, or adventures run by Lucius Malfoy, no more bullets, no more being at someone else's beck and call for no pay and no glory. Seeing Rabastan bleed out in front of me is enough for me to know that none of you want to serve him anymore."

"So you want us to join the Order?" Rodolphus asked beside her, Antonin could see his hand shaking as he held his teacup, he was furious "we'd die on sight."

"No. No. No!" She was frustrated "We do our thing, and just...push things along a little. I'm dead now, I wanted to be dead. That's the only way we're going to make this work. We can't have people coming after Hermione Granger while she's trying to save their hides. I can work this way, no interruptions, no fleeing from Vol...sorry, the Dark Lord, and we can win this thing. It all starts with the people that _other_ people have overlooked: magical creatures, mudbloods, and prisoners."

"I thought you wanted to stay with us, I thought you died to live with me." Rodolphus sounded put out. "With all of us."

"For how long can I stay in LeStrange Manor with Bellatrix, Rodolphus!" She was frantic, she was seeing her plan go down in flames "We're not going to become buddies overnight, Dolohov certainly still hates me. Just because you happen to like my company, and yes, you, Yaxley too. Ugh, this is besides the point. I just want you to think about it, just...I don't want anyone hurt anymore, and the more newspapers I see, the more and more people I see hurt. Harry is going to need help, and Dumbledore never seems to be able to do anything, so I'm here with you, now, looking to help end this war with the most capable men I've met in the wizarding world thus far."

The tea in his cup was gone, Antonin decided it was time to speak, he had so many insults to hurl at her, so many questions, but the only ones that came out of the whirlwind of his mind was the last thing he wanted anyone to hear. "I don't _hate_ you."

"Dolohov!" She sounded offended "That's beside the point."

"Listen, love." Yaxley reached across Antonin's lap and laid his fingers on her arm "This is a _lot_ to ask. How about we eat some food, it's been a long day, and sleep on it."

The fire burned a little softer when she looked down at his hand. "You will think on it?" She asked.

There was a murmur of agreement.

"If you're going to kill me, please don't do it in my sleep." She added and laughed nervously.

" _Hermione_ ," the way Rodolphus said her name made everyone in the room turn, laced with such affection it stung "I will make a vow to you right now that I will not hurt you. I cannot speak for the others, but I will never lay a hand on you."

"Hear, hear." Yaxley said, rubbing her arm comfortingly.

"Same here." Rabastan said, refilling his own teacup

Everyone looked at him, except for her, urging him to agree. The tension in the room was thick.

"Of course I wouldn't hurt a child." Rabastan said and looked away "No _more_ marks will come from me, mudblood."

She started to cry at the table, big fat tears that rolled silently down her cheeks. His heart twisted uncomfortably in his chest as she swiped at them furiously, before letting out a breath she had been holding. "This is just _so weird_."

Rabastan laughed. The room laughed with them. Antonin handed her a handkerchief, he realized belatedly that it was his mother's.

* * *

She had fallen asleep early and he was in the back gardens, as far away from her as he could get to hopefully clear his mind. He had not released the tracking charm, so even now, he felt the uncomfortable pull to be near her. Antonin was leaning against the back of the hedge maze listening to the crickets sing and the odd flutter of bats that sometimes swooped so low overhead. She wanted them all to betray the dark lord that had freed them from prison. She wanted to turn his soldiers against him in some kind of attrition espionage. It was so easy for her that she had already begun to endear herself to the werewolves. If they helped, they'd have their own army soon enough, she was sneaky, mudbloods and muggles often were.

Rodolphus plopped down beside him, sighing and clinking his whiskey glass with Antonin's. "They say if she drives you to drink, she's a keeper."

"She's driving me to stop drinking, her logic starts to make sense when I'm drunk." Antonin said, tracing the constellations with his eyes.

"What do you think? Tell me honestly, Antonin, I trust your judgement."

Antonin hated this, while Rodolphus was his senior, Rodolphus was indecisive. "Yaxley says you care for her." Antonin shot back as he spotted Anteres up in the sky.

"I do." Rodolphus said matter of factly "it's no use lying, Rab says it's plain as day."

Antonin hummed in agreement "Why?"

"I have never had much interaction with...mudbloods, or muggleborns, it feels strange calling Hermione a mudblood." There was a pause while he drank some more. "She was hissing and spitting like a cat while she was dying on the floor, stood up to Bellatrix like she was nothing more than a school bully, and would be up for breakfast to discuss current events. If I had a daughter still, I'd want her to be like Hermione, intelligent and fearless."

"I'm sorry brother, about your own."

Rodolphus was quiet for a moment "It was my own fault, I should have seen the signs of madness, I just didn't think-"

"Is she right? Do you think? About this prophecy."

"That's what we were sent to retrieve, remember? This prophecy, no one has heard it, but the boy, and our Lord, he didn't want us to listen to it." There was a pause as they listened to footsteps on gravel, someone else was coming.

"'Allo, 'allo, is this midnight meeting discussing our little bird?" Yaxley said with his usual saunter, Rabastan was walking with him. "I didn't want to be late!"

"Well," Rodolphus sat up a little straighter "Now that _everyone_ is here."

"Sorry, Dolph, didn't know you'd be here." Rabastan said sheepishly from next to Yaxley who was now pacing up and down the small dead end of the hedge maze.

"It's nothing, we all have the same thing on our mind." Rodolphus responded and waved him off. "Has anyone come to a decision?"

"Our little dove, is right." Yaxley spoke first, not to anyone's surprise "This is only going to get worse before it gets better. Killing mudblood children is _not_ what I signed up for, nor is dealing with Umbridge. This was to protect ourselves from the muggles, I signed up with Tonin because of what was happening in Russia, and what was happening here. The muggles don't do much now-a-days, and we're left with what, stalking children at the docks? Might as well just sign up to be school teachers and get paid to do it!"

"But-" Antonin knew that Yaxley's rants always came with a clause.

"But how do we know that if we help her, and her little friend wins this thing, that we're not tossed back where we started? She didn't offer us protection, she just said she wanted to help the light, and we're all supposed to join up? Let's just move her to my place and wait until Bellatrix offs herself so she can stay with Dolph and Rab."

"I will help her," Rabastan said quietly after Yaxley's rant. "Luna would want me to help her, so I will. It's the right thing to do. For so long, we were doing the right thing, protecting our heritage from invading muggles, but now what are we doing? Killing purebloods, half-bloods, our _own_ just because we are told they're traitors. Luna is a pureblood but she was in the dungeons the same as Hermione. He's changed since he came back, this isn't about our heritage anymore, and you're all blind if you think it is. I don't care if I go to Azkaban for what I did wrong, I just want to do right by Luna."

"I got you into this mess Rab, I'll fight with you for a way out." Rodolphus said, standing up.

Yaxley was looking at Antonin expectantly, waiting for him to add his two knuts, because Antonin knew that whatever he chose, Yaxley would follow. Yaxley joined the Dark Lord _because_ he had. They were practically blood.

"So, we're just going to follow what the mudblood is telling us? The Dark Lord freed us from prison! We _owe_ him." Antonin said.

"And put us into a new one! We're still criminals! We don't have jobs. We can't even go to Diagon Alley and drink like we used to! All we do is chase after children or muggles!" Rabastan snapped irritably "At least if we do what Hermione says we can make things right for people who share our heritage instead of killing them! This was about preserving wizards, right? Protecting people like your mum from muggles who wanted to off her, but now _you're_ what your mum needs protecting from!"

"Don't you drag my _matushka_ into this, Rabastan!" He yelled, scaring some birds who had been sleeping nearby "Take it back, _schas po ebalu poluchish_!"

Oh, but his fury would not be quenched and he had his wand out before he knew what he was doing. His mother was a sensitive subject, he hadn't seen her in years. He hated being reminded of someone he abandoned for her own protection.

Rabastan looked alarmed, but responded in kind. "I will not fight my friends, Antonin!" he responded, his voice a cold fury. "Don't you see what he is doing to us? What he is ordering us to do to wizards and witches like us? We're bad people now, Antonin! We're not helping or preserving anyone or anything like this! I want to make it right!" The last words were in a the same hoarse shout that Antonin had.

Yaxley pushed down on Antonin's arm, lowering his wand. "Listen, I have a little bird who is sleeping in her nest right now, and if we keep screaming like we've all gone mad out here, she's going to wake up and start asking questions. Rab, that was a low blow, you know about Tonin's mother."

Rabastan lowered his wand, breathing heavily "Sorry, Tonin, you know...I'm just sorry."

"Let's sleep on it." Rodolphus said "No one is forcing anyone's hand. Let's just sleep on it."

He left the maze first, followed by his younger brother, leaving Antonin alone with Yaxley. "You're going to choose her, aren't you?" The Russian said to his friend who was watching the two LeStrange men turn out of sight.

"I was never meant to be a house elf, Antonin, and lately, that's what my job is for our lord."

"I'd rather be a house elf, she never orders _them_ around." Antonin responded, a smile playing at his lips.

Yaxley let out a bark of laughter that made him turn back and truly smile for the first time since he had left Azkaban.

* * *

It was much to his relief that the next morning at breakfast, she didn't ask about what they had spoken about last night, instead she read her own obituary in the Daily Prophet silently, stirring her tea absentmindedly as Rodolphus answered mail and Yaxley read his own copy, he had taken to getting two now.

" _Brightest Witch of Our Age"_ Yaxley read out and looked at her as he took another sip of coffee "Enjoyed books, highest OWL marks since Professor Severus Snape, twenty years prior."

"Oh, you think they're not going to send me my OWLs now?" She sounded put out "I should have waited."

While Yaxley read the rest of her obituary out loud to the table with flourish on some words that made her roll her eyes, he realized there was a lot he didn't know about his mudblood. She was smart, she was one of the _Golden Trio_ , the Prophet's deliberately gaudy name for Harry Potter and his two sidekicks, and she would be missed. None of these things seemed to phase her too much as she read over the rest of the morning paper, apparently looking for some sign of anything other than her death.

"Hm," Rodolphus said after Yaxley finished "I realized there is much we don't know about you, Hermione."

"International mudblood of _mystery_." She looked at him strangely, flipping her hair.

Rodolphus cracked a smile, and so did she. He envied the easygoing relationships that everyone had with her but him.

"Well, since nothing else is lined up today, I thought I could...maybe show you around the manor a bit, we have a rather good library and a very nice greenhouse that Rabastan likes to look after, I know it might seem a lit-"

"Oh, a _library_?" She was enraptured.

It was a mistake to say she was enraptured, because he had never actually seen his mudblood enraptured before the moment she stepped foot into the large library that took up a majority of the back of the manor.

"Oh." She squeaked.

The benefit of old wizarding families was laid out before the five of them, two stories of books that were crammed into every available wall, with stacks and stacks of books near fireplaces, chairs, scrolls piled up in glass boxes near the center of the room before the aisles of bookshelves started. The ceiling was charmed as some sort of makeshift skylight, summer sun shining down on them, clouds swirling around it lazily as she disappeared into the rows of bookshelves that twice as tall as she was.

"Alright lads, off to the Ministry I go, I'm sure she'll be right where I left her when I get back today." Yaxley said cheerfully, followed by the loud crack of apparition.

"Drolly." called Rodolphus, a house elf, who was now clothed in something resembling a grey suit, wrung his hands and looked up at his master "Hermione is somewhere in here, you'll be staying with her today, get her anything she needs."

"Mistress Hermione gives Drolly clothes." He complained and then looked fearful "Drolly is happy to serve Old Master."

"They look a bit strange all dressed up like that, like putting clothes on a dog." Rabastan commented as the house elf disappeared.

"Hermione says it's a "basic right" for them to be sheltered and clothed. I've been fighting with her about this _wage_ nonsense, because what is a house elf going to buy?" Rodolphus waved it off

"You spoil her," Antonin finally said "She's a prisoner, you don't even have to let her speak to you."

"Come off it Antonin," Rodolphus said, keeping an eye on the girl who reappeared with armfuls of books "There are plenty of things she is, and prisoner is not one of them. The girl is more free than we are."

She spilled them all on the coffee table nearest the fire, a house elf, Drolly, was stopping books from falling off onto the floor and fixing the pile before she had even sat down. She was wearing some better fitting clothing today, he wondered if Yaxley had dressed her, he always had an eye for style. A flowing black skirt and pale cream shirt that was high necked. Her hair piled on top of her head in a mess secured by a black ribbon.

"We have to visit our Lord today, we're not sure when we'll return." Rodolphus spoke softly "I doubt she'll leave the library, but don't leave her alone in the house. Bellatrix has been with Cissy, since the Draco business, but I don't know how long that will last."

The elf popped in with a tea set, it's ears pinned down as he warily watched the mudblood thank him generously for his service. When he went to comment on how the elves all feared her, Antonin realized he was alone.

She _was_ rather smart for a mudblood, he realized, as he read the golden lettering on the spines of the books she had picked out, _Vampyres: The Bright Side_ , _Vampiric History from 1300s-Present, From Ankora to Vlad: A Primer on the Living Dead_.

She was currently reading something simply called _Vampires_ , that was thicker than her arm, and she was blissfully quiet for an hour or so, and then he grew bored. He realized that he had never met a vampire before, even though knew he knew that there were several high up within the ranks.

"Have _you_ met a vampire before?" He finally asked.

"No." She said, flipping a page "They aren't exactly allowed to attend Hogwarts."

Curse her for reminding him how young she was. A schoolgirl! He stole her from her bed, he was no better than a child molestor. Here she sat across from him, all graces and airs, had every pureblood he knew waited on her beck and call.

After a few moments of silence "Do _you_ know any vampires?" She asked, her finger marking the line she was on, the text looked impossibly small.

"There is one," he said finally, wondering why he was even speaking to her "That I know _of_ , a fellow death eater, Sanguini?" He struggled to remember, the vampire was used more of as a threat to misbehaving new recruits, much like Fenrir was. He had not been a recruit in awhile.

The girl worried her lip with her teeth and looked over at the fire before looking back at him "Do you think...can we meet him?"

"Now?" He asked incredulously. They had _just_ escaped the werewolves last night and now she wanted to meet with a vampire? He had heard the rumors about vampires, none of them involved taking elevensies with a mudblood.

Maybe vampires didn't like mudbloods? He thought about the validity of that, but then remembered her stunt with Lucius Malfoy, their blood looked exactly the same. Water and Vodka looked the same too, though.

"-hov, Dolohov?"

"What?" He snapped, irritated, trying to rationalize _why_ she wanted to meet with the vampire in the first place.

"I was _saying_ , not today, of course, vampires are asleep, but tonight? Tomorrow night? Soon." She pursed her lips "The sooner the better."

"You're dead, girl, there is no hurry."

"The longer I wait, the more people will die, I know for a fact this is what Dumbledore was trying to do before you kidnapped me. If I can do it, Harry will have a distinct advantage, and magical creatures who are already second class citizens won't have to fight in a war for a bunch of wizards that don't give a rats arse about them."

She was such a bleeding heart, first house elves, then werewolves, now vampires. She had a penchant for finding creatures that needed help, and throwing her whole self into helping them. Was he one of those downtrodden magical creatures? Would she help him? Did he want her help? He felt self loathing mix with revulsion as he summoned the house elf for some wine.

"Day drinking already?" She commented, but said nothing when the wine was delivered.

She said nothing when he didn't touch the wine either. He liked her when she was quiet. She was pretty when she was quiet. He hated himself for noticing that about her.

They were walking to lunch, some portraits wished her a good afternoon and she did the same. The mudblood seemed to be friends with a good majority of the LeStrange ancestors, they accompanied them on the walk down the hallway, chatting to her amicably about the great and varied fortune of House LeStrange. A witch who looked like she was a skeleton with skin, her black hair pulled tightly away from her face was speaking to her about the construction of the greenhouse when Winty, the kitchen house elf, popped before them in a gaudy pink dress that hurt his eyes.

"Young Mistress Hermione and Master Dolohov are to have lunch in the gardens today." She was shifting her weight nervously " _Not_ the kitchens."

The gardens made him uneasy, despite flourishing under the summer sun, he could only remember his argument with Rabastan from the night before. From the raised back porch he could see most of the maze's layout clearly.

Lunch was mixed with the fragrant scent of roses as she ate a salad in silence, a book laid open on her lap, her head bent over. Birdsong was distant and was better conversation than she was. She would occasionally look up at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something, and when he didn't, she did not press or question him, just turned back to her book.

"How many times do you think Yaxley has went to Harrod's for me?" She asked the book.

"Twice, so far." Antonin said pushing around his steak on the plate. It was awkward talking with her about domestic matters.

"I don't remember the first time." She said looking back inside the house and knitting her brows together in an effort to try and find the memory.

"You wouldn't, I destroyed them. Yaxley's an idiot."

A pureblooded woman would have been outraged, he had never met one that wasn't obsessed with appearance and material things, but his mudblood just shrugged. "I hate saying no to him, but I thought it would only make the rumors worse."

"What rumors?"

She took another sip of water, the ice clinking in the tall glass as she set it back down. "Oh that I was a death eater whore, that I'm passed around between the LeStranges and Yaxley and you, of course, in some sort of weird group sex every night. Ridiculous really."

He choked on his tea, his face going pale white as rage filled him. How had he never heard this? People were thinking that he fucked his prisoners? That he _shared_ his possessions? Did they laugh at him behind his back?

"People came down to taunt Luna and I, mostly Wormtail asking for a _sample_ , but nothing ever came of it." She flicked her gaze up to him and he saw a flicker of worry before she turned back down to the book "If I had fled back to The Order, that's what they would _think_ happened, and I don't know if I could handle...the questioning, the coddling, the lies I'd have to tell."

He didn't know _what_ to say, but she pressed on.

"While Bellatrix tortured me the cell was _conveniently_ left open and Luna escaped. She's stronger than me, I can't handle that kind of stuff. I couldn't...no, because if I was honest, then they'd think I had gone mad. This is easier."

He remembered Rabastan saying the Luna girl was a pureblood, so at least the mudblood knew that she was weak. How dare Wormtail of all of his lord's men, come down and speak to his mudblood? _His_ mudblood. He got up from the table quickly, banging against it and tipping the water over onto her.

"Dolohov!" She screeched and he looked down, the book had gotten wet.

A quick drying spell and she "hmphed", a house elf appeared only to see the table was in shambles. As soon as the house elf appeared, he disapparated. As the world swirled around him, he remembered her eyes, _panic_.

* * *

The draw to her was stronger now, it was almost pulling him back to her, damn him for forgetting that charm again. It was so easy to forget about it when she was near him.

Malfoy Manor was relatively empty in the late afternoon, he did not encounter _anyone_ until a very distraught looking Narcissa walked out of the drawing room, her eyes rimmed red from crying.

"Antonin!" She took two steps back and almost tripped over herself "I am sorry, I was not expecting guests today."

" _Tonin_ ," a cheerful voice said from within the room and out bounded Bellatrix "It is a _pleasure_ ," She purred, walking her fingers up his arm.

He shivered, being this close to her madness felt contagious.

"I am looking for Wormtail." He said, looking down the hall as if the vile bastard would appear in front of him when he called "He seems to need a refresher on what _property_ means."

"Oh! Oh!" Bellatrix clapped like a seal "Let's go, _let's go_."

Bellatrix skipped in front of them as they went deeper and deeper into Malfoy Manor, and it wasn't until they stopped outside of what he knew was his Lord's quarters that he stopped. He heard voices inside, his lord's snakelike hiss and a woman who was thanking his lord profusely.

Bellatrix banged open the doors without ceremony and he saw that there was only a few people in the study aside from the Dark Lord himself: Wormtail, a fat woman who looked like a sausage stuffed into a pink suit, Lucius, and Severus Snape.

"Bella," the red eyes flicked up to the two of them and Antonin forced himself to look away. "What have I told you about knocking."

"Oh, but _master_ ," she said almost joyously. "Tonin is here to punish Wormtail for you!"

He could feel the atmosphere in the room relax. "That is fine, Dolores, dismissed."

This was the woman Yaxley complained about day in and day out. Antonin looked over her boredly, she wore the same color as Winty, and was about as easy on the eyes as the house elf. "Master honors me." She had a high pitched voice and Antonin wondered if she was having a laugh, because there was no way a grown woman spoke like that.

"Bellatrix." The Dark lord held the x for a little longer than was comfortable "I thought that _you_ had wanted to punish Wormtail?"

Wormtail was trying to melt into the floor next to his lord, and Antonin wondered if he actually could get him to melt.

"Tonin is _much_ more effective than me, my lord, also I have _family_ matters to attend to." She spat family in Lucius' direction, who gracefully looked away from Bellatrix and at a very interesting bit of the wall near the door.

He waved her off, apparently bored of listening to her. "Very well, Wormtail, you know why you have displeased me?"

"I forgo-I for-I forgot to lock the door...and the prisoner escaped."

Antonin doubted he forgot to lock the door, but Wormtail was a very convenient scapegoat for Rabastan. "Come out Wormtail, face me."

Wormtail was visibly shaking, and the Dark Lord laughed. "It has been awhile Antonin, and your creativity is refreshing."

Wormtail wrung his hands much like the elves did when they knew they were about to serve the mudblood. _His mudblood_. The very thought of wormtail touching her drew emotions out of him that he hadn't felt since he got out. Anger and a searing protectiveness that he didn't want to examine further.

He began by casting a freezing charm, he found that his victims always bled more when they were chilled. Wormtail held his hands out in front of his face, trembling from fear and cold. Those hands wanted to touch his mudblood, _his_. " _Diffindo._ "

He missed so that a majority of the spell hit the wall, but began to cut small incisions on Wormtail's hands and arms. He wanted the screams, there was catharsis in the screams.

" _Diffindo. Diffindo."_

When they finally came, there was nothing but a twisting in his gut as Wormtail lay on the floor. There was no release of tension, or of his anger, just the nagging feeling of guilt.

He was breathing heavily as Wormtail passed out finally from blood loss on the floor. The Dark Lord clapped slowly and commended him for his creative spell work.

"Severussss, fix him, I need him to feed Nagini."

The Potions Master banished the blood and levitated Wormtail, giving him a dirty look as he passed.

It wasn't until he was halfway down the hall, listening to Lucius' idle conversation about Narcissa and Draco that he realized that Bellatrix had left two hours prior, and he had left the mudblood girl alone.


	6. Favorite Things & Bets

Bellatrix was shouting at her sister for being weak willed in the parlor when he apparated back and Antonin felt his heart plummet through the floor. He felt a tug on his pants and Winty, in the gaudy pink dress looked up at him fearfully. Rodolphus was going to kill him if anything happened to the mudblood.

"Antonin?" Narcissa asked softly and he wanted to curse her then and there, the house elf was blasted back into the kitchens by a vengeful Bellatrix.

"Get away from him you disgusting creature. Tonin! Are you waiting for Rodolphus? He's missing _at present_ , but I'm sure us ladies will keep you company."

She was still here, and she still was alive because he felt the faint tug of his tracking charm still. He walked into the parlor slowly, to see that Narcissa was dabbing her eyes with a very expensive looking handkerchief, and Bellatrix had her hands on her hips.

"Are you staying with the LeStrange's Antonin?" Narcissa asked, her voice hoarse from crying.

"Yes, until I find a place suitable." He sat down next to her in one of the well used armchairs and thought about summoning an elf, but didn't want to see what Bellatrix would do to it. She seemed to be in a mood.

"Oh, it is so hard to find real estate as of late, the muggles have taken over everything." Narcissa sighed dramatically. "You are lucky to be alone out here in Derbyshire, Bella, they seemed to have _multiplied_ in Wiltshire."

Bellatrix got a strange look on her face and stared at the portrait hanging over the fireplace that was empty. "Between us three, I don't think we _are_ alone here in Derbyshire. I think Rodolphus has finally grown a cock and taken a mistress."

"Oh sister," Narcissa said in a placating tone, she reached a hand out to Bellatrix, but it was swatted away. "I am sorry."

"I wanted to congratulate her, I heard voices when I arrived, but…perhaps it is wishful thinking on my part. It would be better than thinking he's always buggering his brother, or something."

"Incest?" gasped Narcissa "Surely not."

Bellatrix shrugged, as if this accusation was as normal as discussing the weather. Antonin felt fear bubbling just below the surface and wondered if it was apparent to all around him. Was she safe? Was she hurt? Was she scared? His concern over the girl roiled around inside of him, disgust that she consumed most of his thoughts. They were just keeping her for Rodolphus, a surrogate child.

A few more awkward moments and false starts at polite conversation before silence lapsed and he realized both the women were looking at him, as if waiting for something. Finally Narcissa cleared her throat "Bellatrix, if we do not leave now we'll be late for tea."

"Oh yes, the Parkinsons, still trying to marry off Draco to that dog faced bitch of theirs?" She cackled and yelled for Winty who was now bruised and cut in a few places.

"If you find the girl that Rodolphus is fucking, bring her to me, I want to see what's so good about her cunt first hand." Bellatrix blew a kiss to Tonin and grabbed a handful of floo powder before shouting "Parkinson Estate."

Narcissa stopped for a moment before the fireplace, glamouring her face to be pristine, and then followed.

Winty collapsed on the floor sobbing. "Master tells me not to tell anyone about Mistress but Old Mistress tells me to tell her!"

"Mistress is not the one she's looking for, you stupid creature, she asked for the girl Rodolphus is sleeping with, and he is definitely not sleeping with her."

"Master Antonin sleeps with her." The house elf looked relieved and nodded.

He frowned at the house elf's blatant honesty, that wasn't what he had wanted observed, but at least the damned creature wasn't wailing anymore. Relief was short lived, as he realized that she was still missing and that was a far greater problem than who the mudblood was sleeping with.

"Do you know where Mistress is?" He asked tentatively to the house elf that was using her pink dress to dry her eyes.

The house elf shook her head.

"Damn."

An hour later, in Yaxley's room, that had been torn apart completely before he had got there, in an overstuffed wardrobe, he found her, curled up in a ball protectively around the book she had been reading at lunch, her breathing even as she dozed peacefully. He brushed a few locks of hair out of her eyes before sitting down on the floor next to her.

She was safe. All the adrenaline from his fear of losing her, all the magic he expended torturing Wormtail caught up with him and he leaned back against Yaxley's bed and closed his eyes for just a moment.

He woke up in bed with her later that night, in _his_ bed, and he belatedly realized that she had her fingers twisted in his shirt sleeve. He pulled it out of her grasp and replaced it with his hand. Mudbloods had soft hands, she had the softest.

* * *

It was early August now, the days had grown insufferably hot, Yaxley was complaining about Umbridge and his mudblood girl had a book about Vampires propped up on the table effectively hiding her from view from the rest of the men, all that could be seen was her hair, and sometimes a hand that would dart out to grab another croissant.

"Hermione, love," Rodolphus said reassuringly "It's _one_ man, and he's in our home. Nothing bad is going to happen."

Sanguini was coming to visit tonight and she was nervous beyond measure. The werewolf thing had happened so fast, she had explained patiently when he asked why this meeting was different, that there wasn't _time_ to be nervous.

"It says in most of the books that most vampires don't dawdle in human affairs." She said, stabbing her spoon into her parfait. "So how am I going to convince him to dawdle with us?"

"Don't say that word." Yaxley interjected.

"Dawdle?" She teased and giggled when he frowned. "In all seriousness, Vampires will be the hardest, and maybe giants, but only because they're violent. Centaurs, but I've had experience with them."

"For Merlin's sake, girl, how many fool's errands are you going to send us on?" Rabastan said incredulously.

"As many people are on this list we stole." She said and crossed her arms. "They _all_ deserve a chance at freedom!"

Rodolphus picked up the book from the table "At least eat with us, you're always behind a book."

He summoned a bookmark and placed it gently between the pages. "You'll need to sleep this afternoon if you want to be fresh faced for meeting Sanguini this evening."

Antonin noticed that she almost always wore high necked blouses, even though it was the dog days of summer, she wore things that covered a majority of her, and he knew why. His curse mark started high on her body.

Later, when she was sitting outside on the steps to the gardens, a book propped up on her lap again. She asked him not to look at her like that.

"Like what?" He queried. He was drinking a fine bottle of wine and staring over at the gardens, staring over at _her_.

"Pity." She said and looked back at him, a frown on her face. "I don't want your pity, Dolohov, I want your loyalty."

"Why would I be loyal to a mudblood?" He snapped back irritably "I already have enough masters to serve."

He was in a sour mood because he realized how _much_ he regretted cursing her now. It wasn't even intentional, he reasoned, there were Order members everywhere and she happened to be there. She happened to be in front of his wand strike, and now she bore a mark for the rest of her life. Another part of him said that if he hadn't cursed her, then he would have never taken her, never seen that anger in her eyes, never wanted to possess it.

She was studying him seriously and he realized he was staring at her while he was lost in thought. She gave him a nervous smile and turned back away from him. "Think about it, won't you?" she said and an owl swooped down in front of her, delivering her new favorite thing: The Quibbler.

He knew a lot of her favorite things now: sweets, books, disgustingly fruity elf wine, Yaxley's bad jokes, small rooms, helping Rodolphus brew potions, standing up for creatures who didn't ask for it, and The Quibbler.

" _Malyushka,_ " he roused after another hour of blissful silence passed "If you do not sleep now, you'll fall asleep at the meeting tonight."

Her cheeks turned red. There was another thing she liked, when he spoke Russian to her. "I'll go once I finish this chapter."

And she did.

* * *

He was sitting in the library with her as she scribbled down notes about vampires incessantly after dinner, Rodolphus and Yaxley were in the middle of a very serious game of wizard's chess, and Rabastan was missing as per his usual, visiting Luna, he suspected, more likely on a mission. He was good with muggles, dealing with their strange weapons and whatnot. He said they were easy prey, but more often than not he came back bruised, shot, and one time burned.

" _Lastochka_ ," he said, looking up from the book he was reading about curse theory. She always looked up at him when he used russian, she must instinctively know that he was speaking to her. "It's ten."

She had an ink stain on her cheek, and a few more on her hands. Yaxley looked up at her and frowned. "Come on little dove, you are not a toddler. _Scourgify._ "

"Oh! Oh! Well I was busy, and the notes." She gestured to three pieces of parchment that were crammed with her neat writing. "Oh, don't look at me like that Yaxley."

She got up and poured herself a glass of wine, and a house elf snatched the bottle from her and tried to pour it herself when Rodolphus dropped the chess piece he was holding. The faint buzzing of firewhiskey turned into a fire inside him and he realized he was being summoned.

"Not now, not now." Rodolphus said angrily standing up.

His words echoed his own thoughts, but there was no way to avoid a summons from his master. It burned like the fires of Russia, hot and cold at the same time. She looked panicked but attempted to school her expression, this attempt was ruined by a house elf popping in to announce their guest for the evening.

"Go." She said, closing her eyes briefly "Go, the elves are here."

Rodolphus looked at Antonin but the pain intensified and Antonin clasped his hand over his arm, gritting his teeth, he was losing feeling in his fingers.

There was a crack as Yaxley disapparated first, followed by Rodolphus.

"Be safe," She said as he slung his Death Eater robes around his shoulders.

He disapparated last, savoring her words. It was the first time that a woman had ever cared for his safety. _Be safe. Be Safe._

He arrived near Malfoy Manor that was glittering on top of the hill, streams of death eaters walking in a silent parade up the drive. He slipped his mask on and closed his eyes, trying, like his mudblood girl had, to school his expression and clear his mind. It was particularly difficult when she was _always_ on his mind.

He felt a tug and realized that even now, he was tied to her, a tracking charm of his own invention, to work without needing to scry or use the wand as a makeshift compass. He walked up the hill alone, enjoying the feeling of knowing where she was, enjoying the feeling of anonymity in the crowd of death eaters. Bellatrix brushed past him, skipping up the drive, tugging Narcissa along with her.

His lord gathered in a long hall, the ballroom, he realized belatedly as he walked up to join the men in the inner circle, he could see Rodolphus' hair peeking out from behind his mask and stepped up next to his brother.

There was one thing he despised about the new Dark Lord and that was his penchant for _raving_. He ranted for what seemed like hours, about Dumbledore, about Harry Potter, about his plans for the upcoming year, and then, as if he sensed that Antonin could no longer stand it, he clapped his fingers three times and the center of the room was filled with bound women and from their obvious confusion, muggle women.

"A gift," he said "From our newest Minister of Magic: Rufus Scrimgeour."

"An honor my lord," a thin man with brown hair and a hollow looking face bowed lowly at the end of the bound row of women.

He liked his women willing, and so, when he left to follow his lord into an inner circle meeting, it was not odd for him not to participate. This time however, he could only think of his mudblood girl, bound like those women were, and wondered, for the first time, if this _was_ the wrong thing to do. It could be her in that row, struggling against the bonds. How could they do this so easily to other girls like her? Other girls with fire in their eyes that blushed when he spoke in Russian. He hated second guessing himself, the girl was making him sick.

The long table in the dining room was dark, the wood was dark, the floors were dark, the room was dark. He had to squint to see the people around him. Did his lord do this on purpose? Everyone removed their masks and food appeared on the table. The Dark Lord no longer ate, which was probably the thing that unnerved Yaxley the most about him. Yaxley would complain that it wasn't _right_ to just not eat. He was sandwiched between Rodolphus and Yaxley, Rabastan sat directly across, next to Lucius. Rabastan looked irritated as Lucius kept trying to get elbow room at the table.

"Yaxley, now that I have both Scrimgeour and Umbridge at the Ministry, it is time to get rid of those who do not agree with our cause." The Dark Lord began, "The ones who are going without pay, make them go without _more_. Everyone will be loyal at the Ministry by next Spring or I will kill you on this table."

"Yes, m'ilord." He nodded and looked over at Rabastan who sipped his wine to hide a smile.

"Macnair, what of the giants? Eat, eat, gentlemen, and Bellatrix."

These meetings were not fanfare, they were downright tedious. A brief report on everything and anything while the Dark Lord feigned to care about them. His most loyal, his most competent of subjects got to dine with him and listen to him rant even more. How lucky he was.

"Severus, tell me of The Order of the Phoenix." The dinner plates had been cleared and Antonin was pushing around his chocolate cake, wondering if his mudblood girl would like some. She loved sweets, her favorite was trifle.

"As you suspected, my lord, news of Hermione Granger's death has crippled the entire Order seriously, the boy is withdrawn and unresponsive. Now that you have gotten rid of the brains of the trio, they are only left to flounder. As she was the mastermind behind Dumbledore's Army, it has all but dispersed in her absence. The fool Dumbledore believed she would make a master strategist, but one should ever put too much faith in a mudblood."

 _His mudblood, his mudblood_. There was a ringing in his ears as he tried to both tamp down his anger, and process the information. Was she really such a key figure? She never _looked_ important to him.

" _Excellent_." When the Dark Lord was pleased, everyone in the room could feel it. "Antonin brought me a great gift even if he didn't know who she was. You shall be rewarded greatly, Antonin, for your unwavering loyalty to me."

"Lucius, what of your son? Has he had any ideas?"

"My lord," Lucius looked nervous, his eyes darted down to the empty plate "If perhaps you could choose a more suitable task for the boy, I am sure he will not disappoint."

When the Dark Lord was angry, everyone in the room could feel it. "Luciusss, your family has been nothing but a disappointment to me."

Bellatrix pounded both her hands on the table and stood up "You should be delighted that _our lord_ has picked Draco for such a task! He will restore glory to the Malfoy name. Beg for forgiveness Lucius! Or I shall make you!"

"Bella, enough my dear, I can defend myself." The Dark Lord replied, cutting her off even as she withdrew her wand.

When they finished dinner and exited the back dining hall, he could hear screams from the ballroom and raucous music and laughter. A cloaked figure rushed ahead of him, billowing in the wide hallway, not quite a run, but not quite a walk either, the most feared potions master brushed past him. Severus Snape was never one to stay long, he was always in and out like a bandit.

Antonin caught up with him, and stepped in front of him. Severus looked up at him and narrowed his eyes "I have business to attend to Dolohov."

"Severus, walk with me." He needed to know about the mudblood girl, he needed to know who she really was.

"Not now Dolohov." Severus spat his last name and looked away from him.

Antonin did not move, and so Severus sighed and turned on his heel, stalking out towards where he knew the back gardens were. Severus loved the quiet. He hated revels, this Antonin knew.

"I didn't know the mudblood was so important." Antonin finally spoke when they were at least 100 yards away from the house, walking through Lucius' vast rose garden.

"You wouldn't, you were only just released from Azkaban. What does it matter?" Severus inspected some glowing yellow roses that were turning towards him. "She's dead."

"Did she have a family?" He prodded gently.

Severus looked at him sharply "What is it to you? What are you playing at Dolohov?"

"Severus, I asked a question, you give me an answer, that's how this works." Antonin knew he was ranked higher than Severus and could pull rank any time, but he knew he'd catch more flies with honey. "She kept asking when she died, for her mother."

Severus looked stricken for all of a moment and turned away "She has a mother, obviously, and a father, both muggles. They have been informed. Anything else?"

"No." Antonin crossed his arms and looked away in indifference. He hadn't thought of the repercussions of taking her, had she?

"Glad I could give you some _closure_." He sneered and then in a swirl of black, he disapparated.

Antonin stayed in the garden a few moments more, looked around to see that Lucius was not watching his grounds, and plucked one of the yellow glowing roses. Would she like it? Mudbloods liked this type of thing, right? He wasn't sure.

* * *

 _Shit. Shit. Shit_. She was on the floor of the drawing room, pale and unresponsive, a deep cut across the palm of her hand that was now pooling around it as she lay slumped against a desk. The vampire was gone.

She had clearly had some forethought because there was an empty vial of blood replenisher clutched loosely in her other hand. He dragged her up onto his lap and her head lolled to the side, exposing her neck, no bite marks, she had given the blood willingly.

She was _so cold_. He looked at all four of the house elves that had lined up neatly to his left, all watching the unconscious girl with horror. What happened while he was out? How could they all have left her with a vampire? He lit the fire next to them with almost too much force and it singed his robes.

" _Malyushka_ wake up," he opened her eyes and could only see whites. "Wake up, wake up, _wake up._ "

The front door to the house burst open and he heard Bellatrix complaining to someone about Lucius Malfoy. He looked around the room. There was no way out, they'd all be caught if Bellatrix found the mudblood.

"Winty, clean up the mess. Drolly-"

The house elf in the dirty tweed suit grabbed him before he could finish his sentence and they reappeared in his bedroom on top of the bed. Antonin warded the door and laid her down on the bed, leaning forward so his ear was inches from her mouth. She was still breathing, just barely, tufts of warm breath came every so often.

"Blood replenisher, immediately." He barked, and turned to her. " _Ennerverate._ "

Her eyes flew open and she gasped as if she had been underwater, her teeth chattering as Antonin leaned over her.

"Idiot girl."

"D-D-D-Dolohov."

A pop and two red vials were shoved into his hand by a shaking house elf "Mistress Hermione has been asleep for so long!" He squealed "Please Mistress Hermione, no more sleepings on the floor."

He tilted the vial back into her mouth and she closed her eyes, swallowing before she spoke. "Yes, yes, I am sorry Drolly, did Sanguini say anything after I was sleeping?"

The house elf wrung his hand "He said he would think on it."

"Bugger." She said coughing and turning her head "Bandages, please if you would Drolly, Essence of Murtlap if you can spare it."

When the fear had left it was replaced with fury "Idiot girl! Idiot girl giving blood to a vampire." A string of swears in russian before he turned to her "And you failed in convincing of anything but your naivety!"

"Dolohov," she coughed his name and downed the second vial but he would not be stopped.

"Idiot girl, idiot mudblood girl." He seethed "You won't need to _play dead_ much longer you'll be dead!"

"Antonin!" She snapped, now irritated.

He stopped. She had said his name with such ease, like she had said it a thousand times. it felt like someone had smacked him. He realized now that he liked the way she said his name, even in anger.

"Virgin blood is the most _prized_ of offerings. I had to give him something, something to say that I was on his side! It's all I could give. I didn't realize how much I had lost. It was stupid, but I hadn't expected to bleed so much. I wasn't supposed to be alone."

Virgin blood, _virgin_. Merlin she was so pure, so untainted by war it hurt to look at her.

"An-ton- _yin_." He said finally.

"What?" She was wide eyed in confusion

"Say it, _Lastochka."_

"Antonin." She repeated.

"Ahn-ton- _yin_."

The house elf reappeared with a platter of gauze and a yellow vial laid neatly on top. She practiced his name while she bandaged herself. The third time she said his name she had caught the _yin_ correctly and he tried to hide his look of pleasure. "I'm tired." She said finally flouncing down after her first Russian lesson.

"This is _my_ bed."

"We sleep together anyways, what's the difference." She rolled over and cradled her bandaged hand to her chest.

Antonin watched her until she fell asleep, was it typical for women to sleep with men like this? What had changed since he had gotten out of prison?

She had just fallen back asleep when he felt the tingling of someone trying to break through his wards. He opened the door to see a very haggard looking Rodolphus who eyed her sleeping form with relief.

"So everything went okay with Sanguini?" He whispered as Antonin stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind him to let her sleep.

"Well, there are always complications with her." Antonin leaned back against the closed door "But it seems to have gone the way she expected."

"Did you know...did you know she was so important to The Order?" Rodolphus asked looking down the hallway as if Bellatrix was going to pop out at any moment, a house elf stood guard at the entrance to the wing, and a few portraits were awake and patrolling in a strange fashion.

"No, of course not. No one told us anything before we went on that Ministry raid, go here, do this." Antonin waved it off irritated "Go chase after these evil little brats, retrieve this specific brat, and get a glowing ball."

Rodolphus scratched his mark absentmindedly.

"Dolph?" Antonin started, a bit of fear crept into his voice.

The older man caught his eye, and looked at him worriedly.

"I'll do it."

He looked puzzled, and tilted his head a bit, his dark hair falling into his eyes.

"For...for _Hermione_." He didn't like the taste of her name, it felt strange, shameful even.

Rodolphus' eyes danced with mirth "Yaxley owes me then."

"You made a _bet_?"

"Ten galleons, I am a rich man. I know _exactly_ what I'm going to buy."

All the tension disappeared. Antonin never knew betrayal felt so _relieving_.


	7. Wine & Family

Guilt ate at him over the next few weeks as he spent most of his time with the girl, asking nothing from the Dark Lord for his loyal service but some time away to re-experience life after Azkaban. She was plotting her next move against the vampires in a new pair of robes, bought of course, with the money Rodolphus had won from his bet against Yaxley. She laughed at the bet, and took the robes graciously. Antonin decided that the deep blue robes suited her, it made her look like the night sky.

One night, while the girl was showering he approached Rodolphus, glass of firewhiskey in hand. "We have to do something about her parents."

"Surely they're not a target, _she's dead_." But even as Rodolphus said this he looked unsure, a few more moments, a sip of firewhiskey "But where are we going to put them? Can we take her out to meet them?"

"Take her to stay with your mum, Antonin." Yaxley interjected and both the men froze.

"Merlin, Yax, you _always_ sneak up on me." Rodolphus said, placing his hand over his heart. "Okay, we take her parents to Antonin's mum, of course she'll be willing to help someone who hasn't given her sight nor owl of him in what is it?"

"Fifteen-" Antonin grumbled.

"Fifteen years." Rodolphus interjected.

"Well-" Antonin started but Rodolphus continued.

"And she hates muggles." Rodolphus punctuated this with a sip from his whiskey glass, the ice cubes clinking against the crystal.

Yaxley opened and closed his mouth, settling on a grin. "Looks like we're visiting your mum, Antonin."

The girl was perplexed when he told her that he was going away for a day or two, possibly longer, but she tried to hide this by turning back into her book: _Blood Rites for the Uninitiated._

"Alone?" Was all she asked at this, flipping a page before looking up at him, even if she tried to pretend to be aloof, she was clearly worried. She bit her lip.

"Yaxley is coming." Merlin, how domestic it was to tell her where he was going.

She frowned. "You're not going to Harrod's with him again, are you? He tried again, you know, he has despicable taste in clothes."

Antonin stifled a laugh at this, he always thought Yaxley had good taste in style, but clearly not for the girl. "No, _lastochka._ "

"The Dark Lord?" She pressed and put her bookmark, a pressed flower from the gardens, a gift from one of the elves.

"In a way." He hedged.

She frowned. "Be safe, Antonin." She had practiced his name almost everyday, it sounded fluent, the way his sister used to say it. "If you don't return, then I can't meet Sanguini again, so says Rodolphus."

Yaxley walked in with two bottles of elf wine, the girl's favorite, and when she reached out automatically to take it, he raised an eyebrow.

"Spoilt girl." Yaxley said after a moment, but gave her one anyways. She stuck out her tongue, childish girl. "Come on, Antonin, daylight is burning."

"Be safe, Yaxley." She called and he saluted her.

In fifteen years, much had changed about where his _matushka_ lived. Mums lined the small stone path that wound up the hill to where she had bought a cottage, just on the outskirts of Bristol. Children were rushing home from school in haphazard groups, bicyclists zoomed past, the summer cicadas were out in force, humming as summer died. He remembered that this area used to be rather rural, but it seems even now, muggles invaded his _matushka's_ privacy.

He took a steadying breath, bracing himself, a sea of worries ebbing and flowing in his mind before he took a look at Yaxley, who gave him a grin and banged on the door loudly, startling a sparrow from a nearby bush.

Antonin held the bottle of elf wine tightly, he thought it was going to break, and the door opened to reveal a very short, round, black haired woman, with streaks of grey, and eyes that matched his own.

" _Matushka_ ," He cleared his throat because his voice cracked saying her name. " _pr-prosti._ "

His mother smacked him clean across the face before pulling him into a suffocating hug, it stung, so much about it stung, but he stood there in his mother's vice-like embrace and listened to her wail his name.

"Mama," Yaxley said "Let's go inside, we've brought wine, and your son, although, I believe the wine might not pair well with him."

"Shut up you insolent boy." She snapped, but grabbed the two of them and pushed them inside, a cat jumping out of the way as she spelled the door shut.

"Why didn't you come see me once you were out of Azkaban? Still following Tom?" She said, filling a kettle with water. "I told your father, _I told him_ , that whatever glory that Riddle kid promised was _derr'mo_. Now look, my only child, is stuck with the sins of the father."

"Well, not so much anymore, eh?" Yaxley said, watching the flowers grow bloom and die on the charmed teacup.

His mother's blue eyes looked him over and with all the wisdom a mother could possess "You've found a girl? Pregnant? _Antonin_."

His face burned bright red and Yaxley started laughing so hard he was coughing. His girl? Pregnant with a half blooded child? Impossible, impossible! The image of her full of his child was now seared into his mind.

" _Matushka_ ," he warned "I have not found a girl."

"No," Yaxley was wiping tears from her eyes "Be honest with mama, she'll smack you into next week if you lie."

"Yaxley, tell me, I cannot bear to hear it from my _malchik_ ' _s_ mouth, how far along is she? Can we wed her be-"

Yaxley started laughing again and Antonin buried his face in his hands. He cursed a few times in Russian before trying again. "Mama," he began slowly, deliberately "I haven't got a girl pregnant at all! It's _about_ a girl, but not that way. I _kidnapped_ a girl."

" _Antonin_ ," she smacked him with a dish towel and he covered his head.

Yaxley was wheezing from laughter, the tea kettle whistled.

"You will tell me _everything_ , from the beginning."

A pot of tea, a few biscuits, and a half a bottle of elf wine later, his mother was looking at him with a mixture of disbelief and pride. His voice was hoarse from explaining, her eyes were shining with unshed tears, and Yaxley was tracing the edge of his empty teacup with great interest.

She turned to Yaxley "You too?"

He nodded, "and the LeStranges, and most likely any other creature that comes in contact with her. Werewolves throw feasts for her, house elves bring gifts to her, she is truly a wonder."

"Bring this girl to me, _malchik_ , if she is as you say, I will do as you ask." She straightened up the table as she was wont to do in lapses of idle conversation "No, wait, Yaxley, go fetch the girl, bring her here."

" _Matushka_ ," Antonin pleaded now, holding his mother's hand "It is-"

"My son, my last son, comes to me after a decade, and asks me to house his lover's parents? I will meet her first. I am not a fool, Antonin." His mother ran her calloused fingers over his knuckles and he realized there was no use arguing.

"Yaxley, go fetch the girl." He sighed, defeated.

Yaxley stood up and stepped away from the table before disapparating with a crack, leaving the two of them alone.

"She is a mudblood, mama, her parents are muggles." He whispered quietly, ashamed. "I ask you this favor, and I have no way to repay you. I have not been a good son. This is something I should not ask at all, but I do n-"

"Do I bring something, Yaxley? I don't know h-" His girl was still holding the book open that she had been reading when he left hours prior, a quill stuck in her hair, ink spots down her cheek. She swayed a little, and Yaxley held her shoulder.

"You insufferable man." She whispered and hit him with the book.

"Mama, meet Hermione Granger." Yaxley announced and she tensed up, turning slowly. "Little dove, meet Mama Dolohov."

She looked like a deer caught in the headlights, her eyes drawn to the woman holding his hand, and then her gaze slid to him. She dropped her book with a _smack_ on the wood floors and curtsied lowly, smudging even more ink on the dark red skirt she was wearing today underneath her blue robes.

His mother looked back at him incredulously. "The Prophet said she was dead!"

"In hiding, Madam Dolohov" If she got any lower, she'd be on her knees. "I am sorry, Ya-"

"Tea. _Tea_." His mother insisted

Winty popped into being right next to his girl and bowed lowly. "Winty makes tea for Mistress Hermione and guests."

Antonin hid his face in his hands and he couldn't imagine a worse way to introduce the girl to his mother when he was asking for such a favor. She was a mess, a house elf was now wrecking the kitchen, and no one had prepped her on etiquette. Yaxley scourgified her and yanked the quill from her hair as she bent over to pick up the book she was reading. If looks could kill, then Yaxley would be dead and buried. The house elf bustled around the kitchen, teacups flying through the air.

She settled herself down at the table where Yaxley sat, the man in question was now leaning against the countertop, and suddenly a full tea set appeared in front of all of them.

"You are the girl he kidnapped."

"And cursed as well." She nodded "Yes, Antonin is a clever spells master."

"Harry Potter's best friend." His mother was starting to put the pieces together.

Winty poured the tea and the girl asked politely for the elf to be patient. The house elf's ears drooped and then in the usual fashion, his girl removed the teacup from the table and let the house elf fill it underneath as if it was shameful to be served in front of others.

"You turned my stubborn _malchik_ against Tom?" His mother was surveying her critically, and the girl tried to straighten her posture to seem more regal.

"Only...only recently, because of the thing with the vampires, maybe?" She eyed him, pleading for an answer. "Maybe due to the vampires, maybe due to peer pressure." The girl trailed off and sipped her tea.

"I will do it." His mother said finally after a few more minutes of studying her "Any woman who comes to me, humble even in those robes-"

Confusion fluttered across her face. "What _about_ these robes?" The girl pressed.

Yaxley looked alarmed.

His mother pressed on "And convince my Antonin to abandon the sins of his father is fine with me."

"Yaxley!" She took them off and tossed them at him "Did you buy these? Rod-"

"Little bird, little bird, I saw these and _knew_ -"

"If these cost more than 10 galleons, I will _burn them_."

His mother turned to him as the girl demanded that Winty burn the clothing. "She is so _young_ , Antonin, but she is so full of fire."

"Yes, _matushka_." He said and watched the scene of a village square play out on sides of the teacup

"I don't care if she's mudblooded, a squib, or a full out muggle. If she is your happiness, possess her."

Winty was crying now and the girl was placating her, Yaxley seemed chagrined as she knelt on the floor and stroked the house elf's head.

"Little dove, just keep this _one_ thing." implored Yaxley.

"Rodolphus picked these out, and that's the only reason I'm keeping them. You would never pick out something so tasteful." She snapped.

"Stay for dinner," His mother implored the group "It has been very long since I've had guests with such _life_ in them."

He could only agree. He could never deny her.

* * *

It was over dinner that he remembered the reason why they had started dining in the dungeons in Malfoy Manor. She spoke on a range of topics, an expert in seemingly every one, his _matushka_ was a spells mistress as well, it ran in the family, and when the girl started asking her about theory, there was not a minute where she was confused. His mother was pleasantly surprised when she started asking for more details.

When the conversation turned on him, she never insulted him. The girl spoke of times he had healed her and saved her, how he liked to eat steak for lunch, and hated the sweet elf wine. She told his _matushka_ about how he called her things in russian, but when she tried to pronounce them back to her, it sounded like jibberish.

"She _must_ like you to ignore all of your faults entirely, _malchik_." His mother said when she had excused herself to the washroom. "I have never in my life heard such glowing praise about you."

Antonin scratched his arm where the dark mark was. He had never heard anyone speak so well of him in his life either. Antonin was a murderer, a torturer, a death eater extraordinaire, but when the girl spoke of him he was domestic and caring, kind with quirks. He mulled that over for a few more moments but she came back into the room, yawning.

"Coffee?" His mother offered before she sat back down, ostensibly keeping them all there longer.

He missed the smell and sight of the worn in living room. His girl was walking past pictures of his family, his brothers and sisters that had perished in the fires before he could remember their faces, and his father, who scowled at her from above the mantlepiece.

"Hello," She said cheerfully up to the man who was dressed in all black, standing with his hands clasped behind his back "You look remarkably like Antonin."

Antonin realized that he did look like his father now, long dark hair that he hadn't cut since he got out of Azkaban, dark serious eyes, and a square jaw that sometimes went a few days without shaving.

"He is my _son_ of course we look alike, idiot girl." His father barked at her, but she did not flinch.

"You speak just like him too." She replied "You were painted very well."

He bent down to look at her closer and paced around the frame. His father's face softened "Why yes, I was."

"We hired the best to paint Alexei. It was a shame that we didn't think to do the same for the other children while they were still living." His mother said beside him, and beside her was Winty carrying a tray of desserts and coffee.

"Antonin hasn't told me-" She said quietly "I don't mean to pry."

"It is important that they are remembered." His mother said, a bit of steel entering her voice. "When Antonin was young, we had some food and others had none, we had _water_ when others had none." Her voice grew thick with her accent, the portrait sat down along with everyone else, Yaxley sitting the closest to the girl, sharing a loveseat with her.

"When times were hard in the village, we shared. It is what one does, when you have something and others have nothing, you share until everyone has something. That was what the...Russian Ministry at the time promised us. However, that was not true in some places. In some places you waited in line for hours and got _nichego_ , nothing. When a neighbor got nothing, we gave them our something."

His mother served him a cup of coffee and the elf looked put out. The girl asked Winty to clean up the kitchen quietly.

"That was when the problems started, it seemed that we always had something, we had so much that we could just give it away without care, and the muggles...our neighbors became suspicious. Aguamenti sucks water out of the air, as you know, so there was no shortage of water for us, even when lines were long and wells were dry. That's how the rumors began."

He closed his eyes because he _hated_ this story, and yet he had relived it so many times in Azkaban, he looked at the girl who had snuggled back against the worn velvet couch, partially hidden behind Yaxley who, like him, knew this story well. Antonin had told him so many times.

"When the drought happened, after the great muggle war, there was no water, there was no harvest for our village, and yet _we_ still had water. That's when the muggles became violent...our neighbors turned on us and demanded that we show them our well."

His mother sipped coffee for a moment and then continued "There was no well, and then we became liars. Havers and liars, who would not share their infinite well with the muggles when all the other wells were bone dry, and one evening…"

There was a long pause.

"I woke up and the house was on fire, aguamenti had made the wood in the house so dry, it caught easily. They were screaming, oh the screaming is what I remember most _malchik_ , I cannot remember your sister's face some days, but I remember the screaming of the muggles outside." His mother did not cry, only stared resolutely into the mug. "They dragged the children out and killed them, set them on fire in our front yard, only Antonin, my _malchik_ survived because he was in our bed and my husband could defend us."

The girl started sobbing, and Yaxley was rubbing her arm comfortingly. He hated the way the girl sobbed the most, she wouldn't make any noise except for great hiccuping gasps as tears rolled down her face. Her hand covered her mouth as she continued to watch his mother with horror.

"Alexei killed too many that night for us to stay, the whole village perished that night, we came to England, and Alexei met a man who hated muggles as much as he did, and that disgusting _man,_ Tom, used my husband's grief and my son's fear to enslave this family." She spat out finally. "And he let my son rot in Azkaban for fourteen years on that fear, and killed my husband. Muggles killed my children, but a _wizard_ destroyed my family."

The girl wiped her tears furiously and got to her knees before his mother. "I am sorry, Madam Dolohov. I don't understand, I will _never_ understand, but I am sorry."

His mother burst into tears and hugged the girl. Yaxley looked visibly upset, and Antonin looked over at the two women crying before back to his best friend.

"I will help your family, Hermione Granger, because I do not want your family destroyed by the same wizard that destroyed mine."

Damn his mother's mouth! He closed his eyes and controlled his fury. The girl was _never_ supposed to know.

"Antonin?" She asked "What does she mean about my family?"

* * *

Rodolphus was putting on her travelling cloak, a Death Eater cloak, which made almost everyone in the room uncomfortable, including her. "If we're interrupted, you'll just be a new recruit, there's so many of them that no one will question it."

"It feels _weird_." She said playing with the fabric "I don't like it."

"There are protective charms within the fabric, armor for the troops, so it is going to feel a bit strange. Yaxley charmed it to be less..intimidating." Rodolphus said. "To others it will just look like a jacket, to us, well, we know what it is."

"You're _all_ coming?" She asked nervously, fidgeting with the fabric.

Antonin sighed, and pushed her along "Calm yourself, _l_ _astochka._ "

She looked back at him fearfully and he nudged her further, she looked like the rest of them now, in all black from her head to her toes. A high necked blouse that was tied in a loose bow, her hair done up a little neater this time, house elves no doubt.

"Drolly," she asked the room, a house elf appeared too close and startled her.

"Mistress Hermione!" The house elf squeaked. He noticed that they enjoyed serving her now, after a taste of Bellatrix anyone would enjoy the girl.

"A...a bottle of wine please." She wrung her hands much like the elves did "There's one in Antonin's room, on the dresser from a few days ago."

"Day drinking?" Antonin asked.

She turned on him and glared, anything to keep her mind off her nerves, her fidgeting was driving him mad. There was nothing for her to be nervous about, they were simply picking up the muggles and putting them with his _matushka_. It would be a walk in the park compared to things they had been doing for their lord lately.

"Okay," she said, holding the bottle of her favorite elf wine. "Let's go."

Antonin grabbed her around the waist, relishing briefly in the fact that she didn't struggle, but instead bunched her hands into the fine fabric of his suit and hid her face in him.

They were in an alleyway when they reappeared, Yaxley had scouted out the area a day prior. She did not move when they all moved, instead clinging onto him, her shoulders shaking. Was she crying? He hated when she cried, his suit would get wet, and Yaxley had picked out this strange black velvet one at that Harrod's shop.

"I can't!" She wailed and Yaxley cast a silencing charm "They're going to be so cross with me, and I died to protect them and they're gonna be so _angry_ with me! A day hasn't gone by when I didn't thi-ink about them."

Rabastan pulled her away from him quickly, eying Antonin before pushing her hair away from her face and wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "No tears, come on, we don't have much time today."

He cast the scourgify on her and brought up the rear as the LeStrange brothers comforted the girl who was angrily swiping tears away from her face and hiccuping.

They got many stares as they walked down this neat sidewalk next to many small shops, a grocery store with bright lights, a shoe store, a coffee shop. He decided the stares were because the girl wouldn't stop crying, even though she had become quiet, every so often her hand would come up and wipe away tears that were tracking down her cheeks. He hated that no one trusted him to comfort her. He was the one who spent the most time with her!

The houses gradually all became uniform, and the streets quieter, his feet hurt in these weird shiny shoes that Yaxley had insisted were "hot", he dug his hands in his pockets and watched the girl's posture change, relaxing a little as she pointed out some houses and described their occupants, finally Yaxley turned up a neatly trimmed yard to a white house that looked exactly like every other white house and they all followed.

"Ready?" Yaxley asked her.

She took a steadying breath.

Before she could respond he knocked on the door three times and she swatted at him.

A feminine voice called "Coming!" before the door opened to see a slightly older woman with straight honeyed hair and Hermione's whiskey eyes.

"Hel-" She clapped her hand over her mouth as the girl offered the bottle of elf wine.

"Hello mum," She said, her voice shaking "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

The woman fell to her knees, but not before Yaxley caught her. In a weird sense of deja vu, he said "Let's go inside, we brought wine, and your daughter, and the wine pairs excellent with her."

A box in the room was speaking about the weather, and when the LeStrange brothers got too close to it. The girl explained, through tears, that it was a _telly_. This was where she had learned to remove a bullet. It was a portrait that didn't talk back. Rodolphus tapped it with his finger and got a few pinging noises and she explained it was glass.

"Your father, _jesus Hermione_ , has just popped out to get some chicken for dinner." Her mother said setting the tea tray down on the wooden coffee table. "We have all...the man who came to see us...he said you were murdered by a _werewolf_ but you're here, you're real right?"

"Mum," Hermione sat down between Antonin and Yaxley on the crowded sofa "It's a long story."

"Well," her mother looked out of her element and looked at the door "Well wait until your father gets home to tell us, we'll cook your favorite tonight, fuck the chicken. I'll start the risotto."

"Mum!" She sounded scandalized

The woman disappeared back into the kitchen and all the wizards, save for Yaxley, who was apparently an expert in muggle business watched the telly in wonder. His girl grabbed a small looking black thing with a bunch of bumps on it, and the telly stopped speaking about weather and it looked like a window into someone's living room. "Eastenders." She explained.

He didn't know what an eastender was but it seemed to involve a lot of talking They lapsed into a comfortable silence, he enjoyed the heat of her body and the way she smiled every time her mum walked back into the room just to stare at her daughter.

She heard footsteps on the wooden porch outside and looked behind her out the curtained window, there was a figure visible through the sheer white linens. "Oh, Dad must be home."

Antonin did the same and he _felt_ the magic before it was cast, a building of pressure before the windows burst inward, tossing her behind him onto the floor to save her from getting cut. There were screams from the kitchen and the door blasted apart to reveal a very furious looking Severus Snape.

"So this is what you had in mind when you asked me about her family, Dolohov? Not satisfied with just killing the girl, you had to finish the job?" His voice was deadly quiet, even as the wooden remains of the door crackled with ash that never caught.

All four of them were on their feet, creating a wall between the girl and the wizard. Antonin fired off a curse without even so much as a movement, catching his cloak and sending him on the defensive. Snape was an expert duelist, but so was Antonin. Hopefully he would dispose of him before the girl's father got home.

"What are you doing here, Snape?" Yaxley said beside him "Mama Granger, please stay in the kitchen, if you would. We'll deal with the trouble here."

"I'm here to see what _you_ are doing here, is this also our Lord's orders, to kill off the grieving parents?" Severus looked at the doorway to the kitchen, Antonin could smell the wine simmering. The girl's mother looked at all of them before shutting the door again.

"Get out of here, Snape." Rodolphus sounded deadly "I don't want to stain the carpets. I'll kill you outside."

"Enough!" Shouted the girl behind them. "No one is dying tonight. Stop this, and _move_ "

They all turned.

"Miss Granger?"

"Hello, Professor, if you would _reparo_ the window and the door, my parents would appreciate that."

He liked the way the girl was an endless stream of surprises, the way people reacted when she treated them with kindness and with anger. The way she could hold her own even when she was disadvantaged.

"Hermione," Rodolphus said warningly "We don't know about Snape."

" _I_ already know about Professor Snape, so what does it matter. Professor Snape, please sit down and have some tea, we're just waiting for my father to come home. I apologize for Antonin's behavior." She nudged him but he didn't move. "Antonin, repair his cloak at the least, it was an accident."

"It was _not_ an accident." He groused next to her.

She rolled her eyes but let it drop. "I'm sorry on his behalf, Professor."

"Tea then?" She offered, getting up from between Yaxley and Antonin to begin to serve tea to all of them.

"Yes." Her Professor said, eying all the men in the room "just milk."

Rabastan had gotten very involved in EastEnders by the time she had finished serving tea, sitting off to one side of the couch his chin on his hand and ignoring the rest of the room.

"Miss Granger," Severus started and looked nervously at Antonin who had not stopped glaring at the man since he had sat down. "You have been doing _what_ since you died?"

"Well, recruiting magical creatures mostly, away from the Dark Lord, like Headmaster Dumbledore was doing with Hagrid before...well before everything got _weird_."

"Lupin reported you dead, he said he _saw_ you die by Fenrir's hand."

"Impossible." Yaxley waved him off as if he was a fly. "The Order interrupted a feast in _her honor_ , thrown by Greyback himself. This Lupin lies."

"Not necessarily Yaxley," She admonished, "We wanted everyone to believe I was dead, I don't care particularly how Fenrir told the story."

"Miss Granger," Snape took another sip of tea "Hermione. Whatever danger you were in, you're clearly out of it now, Hogwarts starts in a few weeks, we can get your parents to a safe house-"

"Aren't you worried Snape," Rodolphus said on the far side of the room "That we'll turn you over to our Lord for being a traitor?"

He looked at him like he was a first year student "What will our _Lord_ do if he knew all of you were harboring Harry Potter's best friend? The one you-" He looked at Antonin "-were supposed to kill?"

How dare this twig of a man who was no more than a glorified babysitter threaten them with her! Did he really believe that he would walk out of this living room alive? He was trying to take the girl away and set them all up to fall for their mistake. No one threatened him, he was Antonin _fucking_ Dolohov.

"I will kill you Snape." growled Antonin "I will kill you and no one will be the wiser. Don't threaten me."

"Antonin!" The girl beside him admonished.

" _Lastochka_ , if you-"

"Tonin, let her speak." Rodolphus said finally "You too, Snape. I won't have her interrupted."

"Oh how cozy you have gotten, Miss Granger, with the men that have tortured and killed many of your classmates parents. Will Mister Weasley enjoy the little tidbit about how the man that killed both his uncles has a pet name for you?"

He stood up quickly, his wand out. He saw red, he would kill this man where he sat. No one insulted the girl in front of him. She was soft and kind and _caring_ , and now he was trying to turn her against them. Rodolphus looked like he had been slapped, Rabastan was still focused on the TV.

"Antonin," her voice was soft, the china clinked. Her hand was on his wand arm, and he looked at her. "Professor Snape is trying to get a rise out of you."

She was trembling, but only slightly, her eyes were fiery, but her posture was relaxed. She turned her gaze to her Professor, not letting go of him.

"If you think I am ignorant, Professor, to what everyone in this room has been _up to_ , including you, then you are mistaken. However, if you think I'm going to hold everyone's past against them, _including you_ , then you are mistaken. If you want to stay for dinner, you will listen to what I have to say and think about it. Antonin, sit down."

Severus' eyes grew wide before growing cold and impassive again. Antonin sat back down and he realized she was shaking. She didn't let go of his arm.

"Speak, Miss Granger, I am _very interested_ in what you'd have to say that will somehow make three convicted murderers and a corrupt Ministry official into darlings."

"I am not here to redeem them, Professor, I am here to tell you what I intend to do and see if you intend to help." She squeezed Antonin's arm and he looked at her.

It was halfway through her explanation that she lessened her grip on her, the tremors of fear subsiding as the odious man heard her tale, her plans for converting the magical creatures, her successes and failures. Her upcoming plans, and her best case scenario, and her worst. He hadn't realized that she had planned so far in advance, and for so many contingencies. When she had finished, the tea had grown cold, and text was flying up the telly so Rabastan was watching her instead.

Her father had come home a few minutes after and after some more tears, and hugging, they sat down to dinner. Muggle lighting was bright, and their china did not move, but their food was good, and her parents were caring. He understood now how she could be so caring by the way her parents spoke so animatedly about her, with glowing tales of her brilliance, but the more he looked at the table he realized _everyone_ cared about her in some way. Rodolphus was encouraging her to eat, Yaxley would occasionally refill her glass, and she sat next to him, her fingers always grabbing at some part of his robes. There was laughter as her mother told the tale of accidental first magics, and silence when the girl spoke of what had happened over the past few months and why she had chosen to die.

It was when the table was cleared, not by elves, but by the girl and her mother, replaced with another pot of tea, and some coffee that she spoke again.

"Well?" She said to the dour Professor who sat the furthest away from all of them.

"First, tell me why you are here, Miss Granger."

"I am taking my parents to a safe house." She said matter-of-factly "The war will continue to escalate, and I cannot have them endangered."

"Wait one moment Hermione." Her father warned "We are not going to up and abandon our lives because of something we only just heard about tonight!"

"It's not something you have _just_ heard about tonight, you thought this war took your daughter, and I do not want it to take my parents." She said a bit of harshness in her tone, she looked sheepish once she realized. "You will go to the safe house, mum and dad, I want to know you're safe, and this place _is_ safe. Please."

"Hermione," her mother warned "We need some time."

"We will pack all your belongings for you, Mama Granger." Yaxley said "We will fabricate a story and tell all the neighbors. All you have to do is come with us."

"Will we be staying with you, or w-"

"You will be staying with my mother." Antonin said finally, hoping to make this easier for the girl. "Near Bristol."

"Oh." Her mother replied to him, looking at him suspiciously, but then turned back to her daughter "You will be staying with us, Hermione?"

"No, mum, I have _things_ to do yet, but I will be able to visit more, and write owls." She pleaded "Just come with us tonight, I just need to know you're safe. It eats at me to know that the only thing protecting you is that people don't think I'm alive."

"Nothing is going to change your mind?" Her father asked "Is it really so dire?"

"Yes dad." She said exasperated "Just trust me on this."

"The Order-" Snape began but he was cut off by Rodolphus, who was beginning to get irritated.

"Has done _nothing_ , and will continue to do nothing." Rodolphus snapped.

"There has been watch on her house." Snape replied.

"We were here for a solid half hour before you came, this _Order_ is useless, washed up aurors, children and schoolteachers." Antonin said matter of factly.

The girl sighed "The Order _has_ been useless, I've watched the Prophet and the Quibbler, there have been more losses than wins. Dumbledore kept too much from Harry, and did too little too late for him. He did nothing while Harry was a pawn for V-the Dark Lord, asking Ron and I to support him even as he floundered. He knew that Harry was seeing the Department of Mysteries, _you told him_ , and yet he continued to let Vol-sorry-The Dark Lord invade his mind. I'm done being a chess piece, I'm starting my own game."

"This is your game? Convicts and werewolves and dead girls?"

"And vampires, hopefully, and schoolteachers, hopefully, and giants, and anyone else who is stuck in this rubbish situation where a bunch of men who don't give a rats arse about whether they live or die push them around like it's some kind of game. It's disgusting, and it's wrong." She had a temper about her, and Snape stared at her.

"Use legilimens if you must, I have nothing to hide." She said staring at him, fearless, brave, short tempered. Every death eater knew that Snape was well regarded as an expert in Legilimens, he often was an interrogator.

"I will not." He said finally, breaking eye contact with the girl. "I will tell the Order ab-"

" _No_." She hissed, he had never heard her so angry, the whole table turned to her "I am _dead_ for a reason Professor, if you ruin this, you ruin everything. If I am alive, Harry will stop at nothing to find me, it's as good as killing me."

"Surely at least the Head-"

She stood up, banging against the table, the china rattled. "I will not force you to make a vow with me, I have been told you have made one already this month. However, I cannot let you leave without one if you intend to go against my wishes to remain dead." She was breathing heavily, and then added a mumbled "Sorry Professor."

"Fine." He said finally, and she sat back down, shaking with rage, or with fear, Antonin could not be sure. "Fine, I will not tell anyone, you have my word."

She looked at Rodolphus expectantly, and he picked up on it. "Come to LeStrange Manor when you've had time to think about it, sometimes Hermione can be a bit _forceful_ and it is admittedly difficult to come to terms with things she has to say."

"Our schedule is full up tonight." Yaxley said gesturing to the house "So you'll excuse us for being brief."

"Sorry Professor," she reiterated "I need this to work."

"Understandable, Miss Granger." He said and stood up from the table "I will arrive when I have had time to think about your proposal."

"She'll be there." Rabastan laughed and she returned it.

The tensions at the table disappeared almost instantly.

When Snape had left, she looked up at him and sighed. "I have never been so rude to a teacher in my entire life. I don't know how I can see him again."

Antonin rubbed her arm the way he had seen Yaxley comfort her before, it was an awkward forced gesture, but she seemed to like it, the tension leaving her body.

She yawned. "I would never leave you guys, you know," She said after a few more minutes of silence, watching the street in front of the house as they got ready to take her parents away. "I don't abandon my friends."

That night she spent a long time in the bathroom, Antonin tried to ignore the hiccupping gasps that meant she was crying.


	8. A Locket, A Cup & A Friend

It was mid-september now, they had settled into an easy routine. On a blustery Saturday morning, she was reading over The Prophet as the mail was delivered, there was more of it lately, fall was an active time for all that lived in LeStrange manor. A falcon crashed into a tea set, startling her and the house elves who immediately began to clean up. A crude looking scroll was clutched in it's claws and he held it out to her.

"Oh, alright, you clumsy bird." She said feeding the bird some biscuit. It snapped at her and almost took her finger off.

She unrolled the letter and her eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning. "Sanguini is having a Harvest Moon Festival, and we've been invited." She waved the parchment with a bright smile

"Mistress Hermione." Drolly said, he had a few suits now, this was a bright red tartan, Antonin's least favorite "A visitor has arrived, he asks for you by name."

"What is _his_ name Drolly?" She asked looking down the hall where she knew the door was.

"Professor." He chirped happily

"Can you show him in, please? And we'll need another seat at the table." But before she finished the sentence Winty had already set another place on the other end of Yaxley who had not bothered to look up from the paper at all.

"When is the Sanguini event?" Rodolphus asked, as the house elf poured him tea.

She was rereading the letter even as Severus took a seat at the table.

"October 3rd, a Friday." She gave a radiant smile "Perhaps, _now_ , I would like some things from Harrod's."

Yaxley looked up at her from the paper "I'm not going to Harrod's for a brat like you."

She laughed "You'll transfigure something for me at least, won't you? You are ve-"

"Kidding, love, just tell me what you need. That new Scrimgeour would probably let me buy the store with an Obliviate and a knut. He's as corrupt as they've ever been."

"Professor Snape," She said looking nervously at the man who was stirring milk into his tea "Welcome."

"I have taken some time to think about your plan, Miss Granger, and I have two questions before I give you an answer."

She nodded, urging him to go ahead, Antonin did not like where this was going.

"How much do you know about by vow to Narcissa, and _how_ did you know?"

The paintings in the kitchen went blank, and Antonin had his answer, everyone in the house was at her beck and call, house elves, men, portraits, there was nothing that could be said in LeStrange Manor without the girl hearing about it from one source or another.

"Your bonder has a big mouth." She said and looked up at the sea of landscape paintings above their heads. "And so do these paintings, they're terrible gossips, you know. My question for you is why you took the vow, and what _is_ the task Draco was given?"

Severus took another sip of tea "Curiosity killed the cat Miss Granger."

"Whatever it is, it's going to kill Lucius too." Rodolphus commented "He's been pleading with our Lord for months."

"Can we help him?"

" _Lastochka_ ," Antonin said beside her. How many more lost souls was she going to collect? "Leave the Malfoy's alone."

 _"_ If we can maybe help...the Malfoy's would be powerful allies." She said before eating another piece of waffle, humming around her fork "But if Lucius thinks Draco cannot do it alone, we may have a better chance. Now Professor Snape is all caught up in it, we have to find out what it is. All I know is that he's been tasked, and that Bellatrix is instigating things. She expects you to fail. We have to help."

"Focus on Sanguini," Yaxley said, folding the paper and placing it on the table "The Malfoy thing will come to light, Narcissa is here often enough. She's bound to let it slip."

"Keep your nose out of other's business, Miss Granger." Snape replied boredly "Is what Yaxley is trying to say."

"Nonsense, it's your business, and now it's _my_ business, we help each other, that's what friends do." She quipped.

"We are _certainly_ not friends, and I didn't say I would join you."

"You haven't left either, I'll take it as a yes." She said and turned her gaze down to the Vampire's letter again, Antonin caught sight of the glittering red ink. "I'll have to pen a reply, would you like to come to the Vampire Festival, Professor?"

He looked chagrined. "Fine."

She excused herself from the table and was followed by three elves, leaving Winty with the men. The portraits all shuffled back into frame, looking sheepish.

"She's only gotten _worse_ since she's stayed here." Snape said and grabbed another croissant. "Such cheek."

Severus stayed most of the day, surprisingly, helping Rodolphus brew healing potions, the girl spent most of the time in the kitchens with them, a book propped open, but she never read it. He would come in and out of the kitchens and she would simply watch them brew before sending him a smile, the page never changed.

* * *

It was two days before the Harvest Moon Festival when Antonin and Yaxley were summoned in front of the Dark Lord, only to see that both the LeStranges were already there. The air was thick with anticipation and he realized that the anger he was feeling was not his own. Emotions ebbed and flowed through the mark, and it was hard to shut them off, it was hard to stop them from influencing him.

"My lord." They all bent before him with ease, their noses almost touching the ground.

"Rise my followers," He said "I have two tasks, The first of which, Antonin, Yaxley, check if something of mine is still where I left it." Wormtail appeared beside his master, fully healed but pale, holding a gold cup "Rodolphus, Rabastan, store this in your vault. When you return, you will join your wife in dealing with the Centaurs."

"Yes, of course, my lord."

From the sounds of things, neither of these would be quick missions. Rodolphus took the cup and dropped it as if burnt. Rabastan quickly stopped it midair. "My lord, is this cursed?"

"It is no matter to you whether it's cursed or not." He barked. "Do as you are ordered."

Rodolphus shot Antonin a questioning look and Antonin turned his attention down to the floor. Something was strange.

* * *

Antonin had his hands shoved into his pockets as the cold sea whipped up his robes around him. Yaxley trailed him by a few feet as the waves crashed and ebbed on the windy, but sunny afternoon. After a good hour of walking, in which Yaxley _never_ stopped bemoaning how cold it was, they reached the cliffs. Scraggly weathered limestone that had seen better days, waves crashed up against them spectacularly, misting them both in sea water.

"There!" Pointed Yaxley to a small outcropping that was about sixty feet from the cliff's edge "That must be it."

"This is _ridiculous_." Antonin snapped before apparating with a crack up to the ledge.

Perhaps the girl was right about him being a glorified house elf.

They both walked deeper the cave and there they saw the door, the entrance to the inner cavern "Yax, you can do the blood sacrifice, I'll do the rest."

When their lord explained all the hurdles that they would have to go over to check on the status of an item, an item that he would not explain the importance of, Antonin wondered if their lord could feel his anger rolling off him in waves. However, even if he did notice he paid no mind.

Once Yaxley had squeezed the blood onto the door, it opened easily, and inside was a black lake, with a glowing island in the middle. The two men walked up to the edge of the lake, that moved despite there being no wind, and glanced down to see the inferi. He had never seen something so protected.

Antonin felt along the walls blindly for the anchored ship, before he gave up and cast a revealing charm, seeing the dim shadow of the rope against the wall he followed the rope until he could feel for the boat, inferi reaching out for his ankles, black fingers out of darkness, and with a _Diffindo_ he was out onto the lake in the invisible boat that knew his destination.

Inferi moved beneath the water, causing waves on the pond, but he cast a few more charms on the boat, for stability, and a silencing charm so that inferi did not hear him. This minimized the amount of disgusting hands reaching out of the blackness, but not by much.

He looked back to see Yaxley but could only see the glow of his lumos on the distant shore. This place made him nervous, this _task_ made him nervous. He hopped out of the boat once it banged up against the small island and he looked down at the basin that glowed a sickly green to see a locket. This thing, this necklace was what his lord had sent him to check up on? It was a ruddy looking thing, it did not shimmer in the potion. Antonin's curiosity overwhelmed his sense and he decided he needed to figure out exactly what it was. He attempted to summon the locket but he heard splashing behind him to see that inferi were dragging themselves out of the water towards him. His heart was racing painfully in his chest. Inferi were weak to the same thing Antonin was: fire.

He steeled himself before he shot his wand into the sky swirling it around in a circle and suddenly fire appeared around him, circling him around the basin and noises, the _screams_ the inferi made when they died were deafening. He couldn't look at them, he had to focus. Fire made him tetchy. Fire made his skin crawl and his mind race.

The curse on the basin was crude at best, and after a good twenty minutes of assessing the wards that surrounded the basin itself, he pointed his wand at the locket and apparated the item out of the bowl and onto the ground.

The fire was dying around him and the inferi were beginning to advance past it. The potion was sticky and he fidgeted with the locket as quickly as he could, when it clicked open a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. His hands were shaking as he picked it up and unfolded it. What kind of locket was this?

 _To the Dark Lord_

 _I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more._

 _R.A.B._

Useless, the whole bloody thing was useless, it didn't make an ounce of sense, and when he tossed it back into the basin, the inferi almost overwhelmed him. Fire and fear was clouding his senses and an inferi grabbed his arm. He was as good as dead, he was dying.

Fire erupted around him and Yaxley looked a mixture of terrified and triumphant as the inferi fell back. "Sorry, Tonin, took me a tick." How did he manage to get into the island without the boat? Fear overwhelmed him as the fire grew higher and higher, Yaxley grabbing him and yanking him back to the boat. He was frozen, the fire encompassed his vision. His mind replayed the night his family died, their screams sounded so fresh in his mind. He couldn't make a single muscle move, he was petrified.

Yaxley tossed him into the boat with a splash before hopping in it himself and it took off slowly, unaware of the danger around it. Antonin knew now, why the sand on the island was black.

* * *

They all looked at the golden cup which Rodolphus had placed under a containment charm in the drawing room. "What happened when you touched it?" She asked, maybe for the third time since Antonin had gotten home the next day. No one had slept, it was about six in the morning, two hours after he had returned to find her covered in blood. Not her own, Rabastan had been hurt earlier today, and she was patching him up again.

"There were... _feelings_ that weren't my own. It was dark, it was seductive." Rodolphus was looking through a book on dark objects, trying to find any mention of a cup. "It spoke to me, this I'm sure."

Everyone in the room but her was worse for wear, Antonin could not close his eyes without seeing the inferi, Yaxley had dragged him out of the cave with inferi on their heels. Rodolphus had a large gash on his face that was slowly healing, and Rabastan was sleeping with two broken ribs. Centaurs, it seems, did not agree with being in pens.

"It looks familiar," She said crouching down so she was eyelevel with it. "An animal of some sort is engraved into it."

"Do not get close _pchelka_ ," He said, half asleep from the chair. "Stay away until we know what it is."

She looked over her shoulder at him and rewarded him with a glare. "I feel like I've seen it before somehow, can we write to Professor Snape?"

"Your trust in men is touching," Rodolphus said snapping the book shut and looking up at her wearily "But I do not trust him yet, and since we disobeyed the Dark Lord in keeping this in the house, it might be best to keep this to ourselves until we find out _what_ it is."

She walked around it again, shaking her head "You're right, let's store it somewhere for now. I'm going to go check on Rabastan before going to bed again."

A few portraits followed her up the stairs, speaking of Bellatrix and Narcissa's conversation the day prior, the voices floated away and it left the two conscious men in silence.

"What happened to you?" Rodolphus asked, touching the gash on his face gently. "I thought you were just on a short errand?"

Drolly popped in with a second elf and grabbed the sleeping form of Yaxley "Mistress' orders." before popping back out.

"Something _very_ strange involving a old looking locket."

He recounted the tale for his friend as a house poured them both firewhiskey generously.

"And that's all it said inside? Something about a horcrux and RAB? Rab what? Like Rabastan?"

"No, not Rabastan, they appeared to be initials, some kind of traitor to the Dark Lord from what the note said. Why would he keep something like that under all those trials? It didn't feel anything like you said the cup did, and I have to go back there soon with Yax to figure out what else he wants me to do." He groused "It seems _strange_ that we both had to do something with these unrelated objects.."

"Do you think it's important?" asked Rodolphus finally.

"It must be."

The girl flew down the stairs, it sounded like thunder, her face was red and she almost tripped over the carpet in the drawing room with a huge book. _Hogwarts: A History_ in gold filigree on the front.

She opened the book and held it up next to the cup before looking at both the men excitedly. "It's the cup of Helga Hufflepuff! I knew I had seen it before. The object isn't cursed, there was a curse _placed on it_."

Rodolphus tossed the book on cursed objects on the floor and laid back into the chair "Bugger this, then."

"Come, _pchelka_ ," his voice was rough, his eyes were half lidded, he was unsure if he'd get any sleep tonight, the memory of the fire was too recent, the inferi kept reaching for him "I need a few hours sleep before I meet with our lord."

She flushed scarlet and took a look at Rodolphus who was already standing, giving her one last look before he disappeared up the stairs. When she was next to him the nightmares never came, like she fought them all off herself, brave girl, his girl.


	9. Vampires & Vows

He could feel the house elf shaking her awake only a few hours later, "Mistress Hermione, Rabastan is waking."

There were some angry mumbles and she rolled over to face him, he opened his eyes to see her face, scrunched up in irritation, her hands folded up near her mouth. "Mistress!" The house elf pleaded.

"I'm coming," She sighed, he could smell the tea on her breath. "I'm coming."

He got up with her, but she didn't seem to notice, too tired to take in her surroundings she shuffled down the hallway behind Winty, the portraits murmuring good morning as the elf held a small candle out in front of her.

He could hear it even though he knew Rabastan's room was a few doors to go, moaning and complaining, her name over and over. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, pushing open the door blindly.

"Quiet, Rabastan, I'm here, I told you regrowing bones was a painful potion!" She shut the door in his face, but he caught it. "Oh! Antonin."

Rabastan looked like he had been in a fight, and lost, red bandages around his torso, his eye swollen shut, his lip split, but healing. He was a mess. "What happened to you?" He asked.

"Centaurs! Bellatrix and Centaurs!" He coughed and spit up some of his own blood "She tossed me in the pen, what a joke, ha ha-ow!"

She was touching the bandages gently around his middle. "Antonin, since you're here, cast a silencing spell, I've never known Rabastan to _suffer with dignity_."

Even so, she had all the dignity for the room, her hands were quick in undoing the gauze checking the large gash that went up his side, crossing with many other scars, burns and curse marks that marred his body. Rabastan had always been Bellatrix's punching bag, and it was even more apparent in the candlelight as she cleaned the wound with potion, her fingers getting covered in his blood, and then her face as she struggled to keep her hair away.

"It's healing nicely, I don't think this one will scar." She said giving him a smile that broke into a yawn "Rodolphus brought you dreamless sleep, yeah? Or just more pain potion."

He eyed the vial warily, Antonin remembered when Bellatrix would trick him with dreamless sleep to get _alone time_ with Rodolphus. "No, just pain potion." Rabastan replied as she finished wrapping the bandage around him. "I can sleep well enough on my own."

She handed him the vial and wiped the rest of blood onto her robes. "I think Rodolphus will check on you in the morning, since he only got a few cuts and bruises fishing you out."

He held her hand and squeezed it. "Thank you, Hermione."

She looked up at Antonin who felt like he was intruding on an intimate moment. He looked away and so did she. "Go to sleep, I can't believe you're making Winty do errands at this hour."

She got up and removed some sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, her hair sticking to her skin, a streak of blood left where her hand once was. He worried about the day when she'd be covered in her own blood, would he be able to tell? She was always playing nurse to others. Kind girl, insufferable girl. "I feel gross." She said as Winty shut the door behind them "I never want to see blood again."

He scourgified her wandlessly and wordlessly, her hair fluffing up in response to the cleaning spell. "Don't tell the vampires that."

She glared at him "It's too early for teasing, Antonin."

A smile played on his lips and he pushed her back towards their room. "Go, _malyushka_ , I need to visit our lord."

" _Your lord_." She said waving at him "Never mine, and I hope not the vampire's lord either."

* * *

"This is too tight, Yaxley." She said pulling at the fabric around her neck as if it would suffocate her "This is too revealing. They're not going to take me seriously at all."

"I asked the shop girl, she said this is what fashionable Londoners wear." Yaxley said taking another swig of firewhiskey.

She was in a tight black velvet dress that went down to her ankles and up to her chin, her hair was in a tight bun on her head. Antonin didn't like the way she looked because he couldn't _stop_ looking at her.

"Is this proper for fashionable witches?" She asked looking at him for support, Antonin looked away.

"It's good and proper." Rodolphus said and slung her navy robes over her shoulders "Stop yanking at it, Hermione, you're going to rip it."

"Let her." A baritone rang out in the foyer. "It's the only way she'll learn."

He looked over to see Winty in a silver bag masquerading as a dress leading Severus down the hall. It seems that even the house elves were dressing up tonight.

She stepped up to Antonin, her hand came to his elbow. She looked nervous "Ready?"

He nodded, merlin he hated the way she looked at him sometimes with such _trust_ in her eyes. Antonin wrapped his arm around her and disapparated with a crack.

They appeared in London down a dirty alleyway with a few trash cans between the buildings, the place where Sanguini asked for them to meet. It always took her a few moments to right herself after side-along apparition, and she stumbled in the heels before he caught her. Severus sneered at him, but he ignored it.

"On time! On time as always Mistress Granger." A voice called at the end of the alleyway near the street, busy cars rushing by.

She pulled away from him and lead the group, shaking hands with a short and lithe gentleman with white hair that reminded him of Yaxley. He wore a striking green suit and smiled at all who were present behind her.

"Please, Sanguini, just Hermione." She looked back at them with a light dancing in her eyes.

Sanguini offered his arm and she looped hers delicately with his. "How long has it been since you've been in London, my dear?"

"A _very_ long time." She admitted as the group walked down the street.

"Welcome back, welcome back." He stopped at a locked metal door that was next to a big metal bin. "I am very excited to introduce you to someone tonight." He handed her a piece of paper and she frowned. "Pass it around, pass it around." He gestured to the men standing awkwardly behind her.

"Oh!" She stepped back into him and he held her steady "Oh I see now."

He read the parchment "The Harvest Moon Festival is at 6 Carnaby Street."

He looked up to see a large garden, on par with the Malfoy's own spread out before them, he couldn't take his eyes off the sight even while passing the scrap of paper to Yaxley. A sea of candles bobbed above the crowds, washing up against barriered trees like waves at the shore, and he could hear the soft notes of a cello playing somewhere within.

Sanguini smiled at all of them "The first time _is_ quite breathtaking. Come along, come along. There isn't much in the way of food for humans, but _much_ in the way of company."

They were a bit of an oddity in the crowd of vampires, but many people seemed to have known they were coming, because they walked up and spoke to the girl like they were old friends. At first when vampires approached, she would step back, almost behind him, but gradually, as the night wore on, she'd greet a vampire, talk about the injustices of the ministry, and ask questions about their living situations. She admired the self playing quartets that were placed strategically around the gardens, and asked Severus if a vampire child was allowed to attend Hogwarts.

Eventually as the moon hung at it's highest and it's brightest in the sky, she was led to a cabana underneath a silvery willow tree at the far end of the garden set by itself, they parted the branches to see a lagoon of sorts, and a man surrounded by three women lying underneath a white tent that billowed without wind.

"Lord Giovanni, the girl who I have spoken to you about has arrived."

Lord Giovanni _was_ indeed a man who lived a healthy life, portly with grey hair and pale skin, drinking glasses of blood that were instantly refilled by one of his beautiful attendants. He had striking blue eyes that Antonin was sure glowed in the dark.

"You are the girl that wants me to turn away from Tom Riddle?" He asked looking her over "A bit plain, the way Sanguini spoke of you, I would think you were the Helen of Troy of our era."

The girl tittered nervously, her laughter was always polite. She was always polite. "With me tonight, sir, are Rodolphus and Rabastan LeStrange, Professor Severus Snape, Corban Yaxley, and Antonin Dolohov."

They all murmured greetings and she finally kneeled down before the fat vampire called Giovanni. "Sanguini tells me that you have a proposal for me."

"Not entirely," she hedged "I'm here to talk to you about how I see the gross violation of your rights, and then _you_ can tell me if you want to do something about it."

He laughed and sat up a little straighter "Alright, little girl, tell me your story, and I will tell you if I feel inclined to act."

She spoke of the vampire's injustices as if they were her own. She spoke as if the registration act was a personal offense. Her voice raised a little when she spoke of how vampire children would openly be discriminated against at school, and how the laws would only get worse. She spoke of prejudices and crimes as if she was a victim to all of the above, and it was only at the end when she leaned forward so that she was on all fours, and touched the pudgy man's wrist and said. "This is what is happened to muggleborns, _I_ do not want to see it happen to Vampires."

"We _can_ fight, Miss Hermione." the vampire man said haughtily. "We are not weak like the muggleborns. We have magic, we-"

"I have magic too, Lord Giovanni, she summoned his glass from his hand and Antonin choked "But the Dark Lord doesn't care if you are magical or not, only if you are of wizard descent."

When did she learn wandless magic? Could she do this the entire time she was under his care? Did she _choose_ to stay with them? His mind hurt with the possibility that she wasn't trapped at all. He had thought of her to be weak and defenseless this whole time, asking him to cast spells for her, choosing to do things the muggle way as if she had no need of magic at all.

He spoke only when she handed the glass back to him. "I will think on your words, Miss Hermione, but you know what you offered for my time, and I expect it to be paid."

"Of course, Lord Giovanni." She said and held her hand out.

A woman who was dressed in no more than a red piece of fabric that was tied around her midsection with long flowing blonde hair knelt next to her with a tray containing a knife and a crystal glass. The girl picked up the knife and then looked back at them nervously, he heard the clinking of vials, and Severus pulled out a few red vials and showed them to her before crossing his arms.

She mumbled something under her breath before she dragged the knife across her palm, forming her hand into a tight fist and squeezing the blood out into the wine glass, it dripped slowly and it was painful to watch. Her knuckles were white around the hilt of the dagger as she knelt there and bled before the vampire, once the glass was half full the woman took the tray, and the knife away.

"It has been _decades_ since I have had virgin blood, willingly given. You have given me a great gift and a great deal to think about. Sanguini believes your intentions are pure, and I can see tonight they are. I will owl you in five nights with my answer."

She nodded before standing up, stumbling a bit, Yaxley caught her. "Too much _willingly given_ , love?"

She shook her head, some hair falling loose from her updo. It made her look irresistible. Antonin looked away when he heard her soft voice laugh. "My legs are asleep."

"I didn't know your name was Corban." Rabastan complained as they began the slow walk back through the gardens.

"It's a stupid name, I'd rather not have it at all," Yaxley said as they stopped at a nearby bench so the girl could take her blood replenisher "But when she asked how I wanted to be introduced, I couldn't lie."

"So, what," Antonin turned to the girl who was wrapping her hand in gauze "You've given them _more_ blood and they're still on the fence?"

"Antonin," She said, knocking back a vial of blood replenisher "I told you that Vampires don't dawdle, it's a wonder they invited us at all."

Severus took the vial from her and turned her hand over, pouring essence of murtlap over the cut and then a healing potion that looked sickly pink. "No scarring." He closed her hand around the bandage.

Her eyes flashed "I'm rather fond of my scars now, Professor."

"I think they just wanted to drink some more of you, Hermione." Rabastan said pacing in front of her "Why else would they invite you here personally? Just to check where the blood was coming from?"

"Virgin blood, willingly given, is almost as potent as unicorn blood to vampires. It promotes healing, and sometimes even reverse aging. If we see Giovanni again, he'll probably look twenty years younger." She snorted "It's not like the list was enough, I had to give them _something_. That's all I have to give."

"Well if they ask a third time," Rodolphus said looking over her head to the willow trees "It's a no."

"For now, the centaurs will keep us busy, I don't need to wait on the Vampires' response. Centaurs, and the giants. Then no one will be following Vol-er the Dark Lord except for wizards, and witches of course."

The LeStrange brothers grimaced at the mention of Centaurs. He helped her back up. He wanted to tell her that she was so stupid for giving so much of herself to the vampires. He wanted to tell her that she couldn't, because she was _his_ possession. Antonin remained silent on all of this, instead enjoying the way she teased Yaxley for hating his first name, the warmth of her body, and the way that she matched her pace with his.

* * *

He woke up suddenly to a house elf shaking his body and realized that the girl was gone. Had Bellatrix come home and snatched her from his bed? Did she run away? A list of situations began to form in his head and none of them seemed to end well.

"Where?" He seethed.

The house elf took a few startled steps back before offering his hand and with a pop they were outside the drawing room. He hadn't even gotten a chance to get dressed, he felt a chill as he stood in the foyer in his pajama pants. The elf pointed to the drawing room and he heard a thud.

She sounded panicked as she pleaded with someone "Please, cal-"

A shatter of glass and Antonin pushed open the door to see the girl stock still next to the fireplace in her pajamas, shattered glass near her bare feet. Severus was sitting in the far chair with his head in his hands, his fingers tangling up through his greasy hair. Had he tried to attack her? Why wasn't she defending herself? He'd kill him, he'd kill him for harming what was hers.

" _Pchelka_ , explain." He said and she gave him a wan smile, she looked tired. How long had she been down here?

"Fetch Rodolphus." was all she said.

"I'm not a house elf! Get Winty-" A pop and Winty appeared "to do it."

"Winty, if you could, get us a spot of tea, Antonin, _you_ have to fetch him. He's warded his doors. I tried to wake him already."

He wanted to shake her she was so frustrating, but instead opted to reparo the glass at her feet before going to find Rodolphus. She put a lot of trust into the older LeStrange, he wanted that for himself. There were strong wards on the door, and Antonin wondered vaguely what he was afraid of. It took ten minutes to dismantle it, he knew Rodolphus too well, he always had the same wards each time.

Rodolphus was only wearing a pair of silk pants, his hair askew to one side, sticking up in all directions "Wazzappening?"

"Severus is here."

A few moments later, Rodolphus appeared in a robe and some pants in the sitting room, followed by Antonin who had at least some decency to put on a shirt. "G'morning, 'ermione." Rodolphus mumbled as he poured himself tea "Severus."

"Rodolphus." She sighed, finally relaxing now that the older LeStrange was present "I don't know what to do."

And for the second time that night. Antonin looked at his tired and wild looking girl, and said simply "Explain."

Severus spoke instead "I am a dead man. Albus Dumbledore is dying, and I will have to finish the job. I made a vow."

She pinched the bridge of her nose "Another vow? I wish you hadn't."

"Dammit girl!" He snarled "What was I supposed to do? Draco's task, _he knew_ even before I did, and I spent most of the summer with the boy! Draco has been tasked with killing the headmaster, but the boy couldn't curse a paper bag."

"That explains Lucius' pleading." Rodolphus said wearily "To kill the Headmaster of Hogwarts? Our Lord might as well have _avada_ 'd Draco and gotten it over with. Like a lamb to the slaughter."

"We have to remove Draco from the equation." She said, pacing in front of the fire, her night gown flowing behind her. "If Dumbledore believes he cannot do it, he won't, but I don't doubt that he won't try, and it's only a danger to himself. Do you...do you think he's been marked?"

Severus shook his head, knocking back another glass of firewhiskey. The man was drunk, he held the glass to his lips too long, trying to divine from the bottom of it, before slumping back over, rolling the glass between his hands.

"This is his initiation rite," Rodolphus supplied "He cannot take the mark until he does this task."

Her eyes lit up "Perfect. Let's invite Lucius for tea and get rid of Draco."

"Murder?" Antonin had never heard her so vicious.

She looked at him strangely "No, we're going to send him away. If Lucius has been pleading with the Dark Lord for months about this, and the Dark Lord won't give it to him, we will." She slid her eyes over to the drunken potions master "Draco will be dead in the same way that I have died, Lucius will help us."

"And how does that fix the problem at hand?" Rodolphus gestured to Severus who was now laying back against the chair staring up at the ceiling with an empty glass.

"We need to find a loophole, in both of them." She said sighing "I don't quite understand how unbreakable vows work, and it's four in the morning, and we _just_ got back from the festival. I don't think I can solve this before sunrise, Professor."

"I am dead, girl, don't waste your time on me. This was his plan from the start, to sacrifice me."

She was visibly upset "No, _no one_ is going to be sacrificed and I will get you out of this, Professor. Please trust me, I will help." She flopped down between Antonin and Rodolphus, the house elf looked distressed.

"Explain the vows to all of us, maybe some fresh minds will help."

"I have to watch over and protect Draco, and carry out the order if he cannot." Severus explained as if she was a firstie. The words slow and deliberate. Did he think she was an imbecile? What other person would get out of bed at three in the morning to help him?

"Don't insult her, Snape." growled Antonin "I'll kill you before your mistakes do."

"Dumbledore's vow was simply to complete the unbreakable vow I made with Narcissa."

"So the problem is that we have a vague understanding of what Draco was asked to do, kill the headmaster, but we don't know what he was _tasked_ to do. We need more information, no matter what problem we need to solve it starts with Lucius."

"Hermione," Rodolphus interrupted her musings "I will meet with Lucius first, he has been always very loyal to the Dark Lord."

"His family is at stake, even Narcissa comes here to wail about how the Dark Lord is killing her son." She nodded and yawned "He will turn. He's in the same position as all of us, prisoners of circumstance."

"Hermione." Rodolphus warned.

"Fine, fine." She tried to stifle another yawn but instead hid her face in her hands "Professor, you are free to stay here tonight."

"Oh, lady of the manor, are you?" He snapped.

"You're an obnoxious drunk, Snape." Antonin replied, he hated the dismissive way Severus spoke to the only person who would try to help him.

"I tried to make her Lady of the Manor but she says she's not a homewrecker." Rodolphus said teasingly. "Stay with us tonight, Severus. Sleep off the bottle of firewhiskey you tried to drown in."

She was sliding back into his bed, making a sighing noise as she rolled around in the covers until she was completely swaddled in them, only her face peeking out of the blankets.

"What did he mean he tried to make you Lady of the Manor?"

"He tried to adopt me, he _wanted_ to adopt me, even if it was superficial." She said, her voice slurred as she began to fall asleep. "He said the family magic recognized mine, but I told him that Bellatrix was the Lady of the Manor, and I wasn't going to be a homewrecker."

" _Pchelka_ , if you don't give me some of the blankets, I will kick you out and you can sleep in the hall." He said, tugging on them.

She was asleep. Antonin was cold.


	10. Plots & Luncheons

A hangover potion was brewing in the sink, it was almost noon, and his girl with dark circles around her eyes was sipping coffee and stirring the potion even as the house elves sat the table for breakfast.

"I never skip breakfast," She explained at Antonin sipped coffee as well, watching her brew "It's the only meal where you can have sweets the whole way through."

Rodolphus, wearing the same clothing he had been wearing in the drawing room the night before shuffled into the kitchen and peeked over her shoulder at what she was doing before sitting down. "You're too kind, my dear." He said

Severus shuffled in an hour later as she was reading the paper and swirling her french toast in a sea of maple syrup. On his plate was a vial of perfectly brewed hangover potion, he looked up at Rodolphus, and then over at his girl, but said nothing.

Bastard.

* * *

More than a week had passed and she received no word from the Vampires, they were no closer to solving the curse that was placed on the cup, and Bellatrix was coming home more and more often, leaving his girl locked in her room to take visitors, and her meals next to the fireplace. He loathed to leave her at these times, but they had finally gotten the weasel Lucius to agree to meet them and so, with Bellatrix taking tea, what could be considered taking tea, with Daphne Rosier, in a room full of spying portraits, he left with Rodolphus to visit Lucius and Narcissa.

Lucius looked like he hadn't seen much other than the bottom of a firewhiskey bottle, his eyes a bit unfocused as he sat down to lunch with the two men. Narcissa was skin and bones, her hair a tangled mess as her hands shook from the effects of Bellatrix's cruciatus. They began to eat, and Rodolphus spoke of how well Bellatrix seemed to be getting along, the work at the Ministry, and then finally Severus. The conversation was quiet when they spoke about Severus, as if his name itself was a curse.

"Severus says that he's been tasked in caring for Draco as of late," Rodolphus eased the conversation into the point of their visit, Narcissa's fork stilled on her steak. "He says the boy is being very...difficult."

"The task our Lord has given him has been both difficult and rewarding. He trusts our family with the future of the cause." Lucius finally replied diplomatically, cutting into his steak with a little more force than necessary.

"Do you believe that he is doing well in this task? From the last few meetings-"

"It has been difficult to lead the boy, but he has plenty of help."

"Lucius," Antonin cut in, annoyed with the tete-a-tete between purebloods "The boy is a pussy. I'm pretty sure the last few times that I've met Draco I've seen owls with more power to harm."

"Dolohov, refreshing views as always." Lucius sounded bored, a hit of steel in his voice, a weary defeat in his eyes. "I see that your time in Azkaban hasn't improved your manners."

"Lucius, we know what Draco has to do." Rodolphus added quickly

"Severus!" Narcissa swore "Or did Bella?" She let the question hang.

"We're here to offer a way out, but I will take a vow from you before we offer it." Rodolphus sat back in his chair, laying his hands in his lap, Antonin could see the wand in the palm of his hand.

The girl hated vows, she said that it was just another way of trapping people. Antonin spoke up "No vow, Dolph, if-"

"Alright, no vow." He sounded resigned "We want to get Draco _out_ , he is unmarked and he clearly will not be able to complete the task. We want to-"

"Fake his death." Antonin finished "We want to kill Draco in an unfortunate accident and remove him from the war entirely."

"This of course, is for the good of the task, and will prevent Narcissa from wetting my furniture anymore. Bellatrix has been very...vocal about her misgivings-" Rodolphus drawled.

"We'll do it." Narcissa supplied "anything for Draco."

"'Cissa!" Lucius warned "No help comes for free."

"All the details will be sorted out, including payment, tomorrow at lunch." Rodolphus continued. "The price is not high, and it is not monetary."

"What is it? What is it that you cannot tell me here? You are asking me to betray our Lord-"

"Listen, Lucius," Antonin snapped, why couldn't any of these men see what an angel his girl was to them? "You're in a shit situation, if your boy fails, which he will, we all know Draco is about as evil as a hinkypunk, you're all dead, and if you betray our Lord and get Draco out of dodge, then _you_ might die, but he won't. So what is it going to be? Are you coming to lunch or not?"

"We're coming, I don't care Lucius!" Narcissa shrieked, her silverware clattering against the china "If this can help Draco, I will do it."

"Bellatrix does not know, and you will not tell her, Narcissa. You will come to lunch with Lucius and tell no one that you are meeting us. It is imperative, for the safety of this plan that it never is known to a single soul."

"Yes, of course." Narcissa said quickly "Bellatrix has been trying to encourage Draco...to serve, but if we can get him _out_..."

"Then he won't pay for our mistakes." Lucius finished.

A pop of a house elf "Mistress Bellatrix is here for you Mistress."

"Tomorrow, one o'clock, no one can know."

* * *

Antonin was worried for her, she was fixing the bow on her blouse in the mirror before lunch, a few portraits were watching over her, the same portraits that usually hung in the living room. "Narcissa Black? She has always been a stupid child." A man said to the girl.

"Even easier for me then Raphael." She replied naturally to the portrait "Don't disparage a woman for loving her only son."

"I do not trust Lucius, _pchelka_ , he hates mudbloods, he's a weasel. What makes you so sure that he's going to work with us on this?"

"Because _you_ hated mudbloods too, Antonin, and because he has no other way out but to work with us. Lucius has one thing he cares about, his family, when he was in a cell with me he wailed about how Narcissa was going to survive, and how he's a disgrace to the Malfoy name. Nothing about _Lucius_ , just about his family."

"He could save his family just as easily by dragging you back to our Lord. He'd be given special-"

"It doesn't save Draco, does it? To bring me before the Dark Lord? By all means, let him do it." She turned around, the blue satin skirt swishing around, it looked like water "If they're coming here, do I have to give them anything? Pureblood things, I do-"

"No." He said trying to ignore how beautiful she looked in blues, it wasn't working, he studied his hands instead.

"Besides, with you and Rodolphus with me, I don't see how Lucius is going to kidnap me." She said flippantly, as if she wasn't about to bargain with someone's life downstairs. "Ugh, this whole thing makes me feel slimy. I don't like _using_ people, but how else are we going to find out what Draco was tasked with specifically? How can I save someone without using them?"

"You aren't using them, put it out of your head." He said opening the door and checking the hallway.

A pop startled him "Mistress Hermione, the visitors are here."

She let out a shuddering sigh and grabbed onto his sleeve, shrinking a little "Okay, okay, let's see if we can do this."

She couldn't look anywhere but out the windows as they walked down to the dining room, it was a rarely used room because she _hated_ large rooms. She said it was impossible to talk in them, so they all took meals in her room, or in the kitchen.

"Lucius, the elves are clothed." He heard Narcissa say as they rounded the corner near the dining hall.

Antonin took a few steps in front of her and walked into the room first before looking back at her.

Lucius stood up so fast he knocked over a tea set. A house elf made a noise of despair. " _Granger_?" He looked white as a ghost, Antonin knew it wasn't the alcoholism. "You're dead."

"The mistress is _you_?" Narcissa said looking from her to Rodolphus. "The rose from our garden, the clothes, the voices..."

He wished that Narcissa wouldn't bring up the fact that he had brought home flowers to her, he had never given them to her anyways. A moment of weakness that was better forgotten.

Rodolphus laughed "Oh yes, we have been having a sordid affair for months now."

"Rodolphus!" The girl was scandalized. "Don't spread rumors like that, I've only just met her."

"Come, my dear, have a seat before more rumors start then." Rodolphus said gesturing to a seat directly across from both Malfoys.

"I have come to offer Draco a way out." She said diplomatically as Winty rushed around to serve them all tea.

"You're a ghost, I've gone mad finally." Lucius said looking down at his tea cup to make sure that it was still _just_ a tea cup.

"Don't be stupid Lucius," Narcissa said "They told us they would fake Draco's death, and for good reason, they've done it once before."

"Yes, that's true, Fenrir spread the rumor that I was killed, and with a little help from some _witnesses_ I was good and dead." The girl said and began to pull apart a croissant nervously. "I want to help you out of this situation, and save Draco."

"At what cost, mudblood? Money? Do you want Draco to marry?" Lucius said, growing agitated.

The word seemed so hateful the way he said it. Antonin wondered how she ignored his insults even when she was saving his family.

"There are two things I will require from you: loyalty, and I need to know _exactly_ what the Dark Lord said to Draco for his task. A friend of mine is in a bit of a bind, and it all comes down to loopholes in the task."

"Severus, it's Severus isn't it?" Narcissa asked breathlessly, awe clear on her features. "Oh, but you have been busy."

Antonin shot Narcissa a look, but the girl waved it off "Idle hands, and all that." She said "We will plan his death, and he will be transferred to our safehouse, or somewhere outside of England, that is up to you, as long as he's completely out of the picture, and your family is safe."

"That's it?" Lucius looked at Rodolphus.

"I won't even ask you for much, to be fair, no errands, no blood sacrifices, no money. I just need to know when I do need something from you, that you will provide it."

"A vow then?" Lucius said withdrawing his wand.

Antonin was quicker, withdrawing his wand and aiming it between Lucius' eyes. "No wands at the table, she is unarmed and you will be too."

"Right. Right." He was anxious.

"No vows, vows are just another way of trapping people, if you follow me, you'll do so because you want to. That is my way of doing things."

"And what exactly are you doing?" Lucius asked looking around the rooms, the paintings were crowded with onlookers.

"I am fighting a war of attrition, Mister Malfoy, and you are part of it." She said matter of factly "It is very simple, and meticulous. I am helping those that have been overlooked, underestimated, or underrepresented."

"Like the elves." He said looking at the cheerful house elves who were serving them in their finest "And the werewolves."

"I believe the Dark Lord underestimated you, Narcissa Malfoy, and that is why we are here today." The girl gestured to the room.

"It is truly us women who will decide this war." Narcissa sighed and looked over at her husband "Finally, a way out."

"Finally." He agreed. "We will have to get the memory from Draco, no one else was present when he was given the task but himself and the Dark Lord."

She let out the breath she had been holding. "This was much more stressful than I thought it was going to be."

"So, when?" Narcissa asked after a few minutes "Now? Next week?"

"When did you have his first attempt planned?" The girl asked Lucius who looked like an immense weight had been placed on his shoulders.

"October 19th, Hogsmeade Weekend, we have...a necklace we intended to use, since he was cursed with a ring, we had hoped jewelry…"

"A locket?" Antonin asked, his curiosity piqued, was it the same?

"No, some ancestral thing." Narcissa waved off "Ugly necklace, we probably still have it because no one would wear it to be cursed with it."

"What do you mean Dumbledore has been cursed?" The girl pressed, a bit of panic seeping into her voice, she had stopped eating and had gone tense beside her.

"His hand is apparently black, according to Draco, which sounds like a curse if I've ever heard of one." Lucius said flippantly, waving it off like it was of no consequence.

She hummed and looked down at her plate for a moment. Antonin picked up for her, the way he had seen Rodolphus do so many times.

"Make him go to Hogsmeade and get the necklace. Yax can bring aurors who will claim to know he had a plot, and one of them can take the fall for killing him accidentally, an auror who he knows is part of that Order."

"No," The girl says "We tip off the Order and they arrive, Draco will make an attempt to defend himself, hopefully, and it's important that he goes to the Shack."

"From there Lucius and Antonin- Antonin don't make a face -will bring him here to extract the memory, and then apparate to the safe house or somewhere else."

"We have a house in Elba...in Italy, we can take him there."

"Then we'll need a portkey, the mi-"

"Yaxley." Antonin cut her off "Yaxley can do it."

"Alright," she clapped her hands together, "it's a plan."

Narcissa held both of her hands tightly as they said goodbye, the house elves waiting neatly in a row before they cleaned up the kitchen.

"Mister Malfoy, I hope that _this_ has been what has been causing you to drink." The girl said "and that you will stop because it has been sorted. Your hair looks awful."

He laughed a hollow laugh "You're a surprising little mudblood."

Narcissa shot him a glare before turning kindly back to the girl whose hands she was holding still tightly. "Thank you, Hermione Granger, for saving our son."

"Thank you, Narcissa Malfoy, for letting me help." She smiled brilliantly.

And in one afternoon they had turned the Dark Lord's richest patrons away from him, and in one afternoon he realized exactly how powerful the girl was. She didn't need magic or fear to build an army, compassion and cunning was more than enough.

When the door shut, she danced a little in place, squealing happily. He fought back a laugh.

"Pleased with yourself, _pchelka_?"

"Oh Antonin, it went _brilliantly_ don't you think? That's been the easiest one yet." She bounded over and threw her arms around him.

It was only a few seconds of contact but he realized how soft and warm she was, all those brief moments of leaning against him, all those tense touches and side-alongs did not compare to this.

He went tense and she stepped back in horror "Oh, I'm so sorry. It-"

He stepped forward so that they were only separated by a few inches, and hugged her. She made a small noise but relaxed into his embrace. She smelled like fresh linens and buried her face in his robes. She fit perfectly against him, because she was _his_.


	11. Autumn Domesticity

October dragged on at a glacial pace. She told him time only moved slow when they were anticipating something, a letter from the vampires, saving Draco, a way to help Centaurs, and a breakthrough on the object.

Centaurs were a difficult matter for her. She liked to spend time in the library lately, and as Bellatrix never came to the library, she was never disturbed.

"I met one, and he was stuck up and he claimed to have progressive views on humans. I can't imagine what a herd would be like." She replied when he asked her one day why she hadn't approached the centaurs "When we do approach them, it will not to be make friends, it'll be to free them, and that's all."

"Then, why not do it?"

"The _pen_ is in the forbidden forest, and I don't know if I can handle being so close to Hogwarts, I miss it a lot, even though I've done so much without it. Luna says that not many people notice my absence, it's the only solace I have that my death hasn't affected many lives."

"I am sure many would miss you, and many more have, _pchelka_."

"I don't want to hurt people, Antonin." She said finally, looking up from her book. "Even people who mean to hurt me."

"I know. That much is obvious."

* * *

"Do you think it's weird?" She asked one night, sitting in her nightgown, propped up on pillows in his bed and reading another book by candlelight.

"What's weird?" He asked, unbuttoning his shirt.

"That I sleep with you." She closed the book "I think that might be weird."

He frowned and looked at the door "Why, has someone said something?"

"No one says _anything_ , I think that's weird too."

"If no one says anything, if you want to do it, it's not weird, _malyshka_." He tossed his shirt on a hanger.

He caught her watching him in the mirror.

"It's just that you kidnapped me, and cursed me, an-"

"Do you think it's weird?" He asked stopping at the bathroom door.

"No, well, maybe a little, it doesn't _feel_ very weird."

"Then there's your answer."

* * *

"Don't you think it's strange," He said the next day to Yaxley "that the girl sleeps with me?"

Yaxley looked up from the game of wizarding chess, his eyebrows knitted in confusion over what he had just said, or in concentration over his next move, Antonin could not be sure.

"Do you want me to sleep with her instead?" He said finally, pushing a pawn towards the slaughter.

"No, that wasn't what I asked." Antonin knocked over the pawn with the underside of his knight, the magical chess piece huffed in anger before stomping off the board in a snit. "She's young enough to be my daughter, and I sleep with her."

"Do you think it's strange?" Yaxley replied.

"What does strange mean anymore after so much time in prison? The world has turned completely upside down since we left." Antonin sat back from the game, annoyed now. "It was strange then, but so would the Dark Lord's penchant for letting every wizard with a wand become a Death Eater. It used to be an elite thing, you know?"

"Is she upset about it?"

"Why would you think that?" Antonin hated how Yaxley always saw right through him "No, I'm not forcing her."

"Then take what happiness you can find and quit overthinking things, you always do, and you _ruin_ them."

He hated Yaxley, it was official. Why was he still friends with him when all he did was insult him.

"It's not weird, it just helps."

"Then that's all that matters, every bit counts. Quit sabotaging yourself."

* * *

"How long have you known you can do wandless magic?" He asked her one very cold fall afternoon as she trudged around the back gardens, he followed her at a distance. She liked to be outside for the exercise, but he knew it was because she felt imprisoned in the LeStrange manor.

"Shortly after Rabastan tried to kill the muggle prime minister." She said, enjoying the crunch of leaves beneath her feet. She blended in well with the colors of fall today, all in reds. "You had done it, so I read up on it, and then tried it too. I thought it would be handy, an element of surprise, you know? You _were_ surprised after all."

She looked back at him, wind blowing her hair in front of her face. He looked away so she wouldn't see his smile. She caught it anyways and laughed.

"Antonin Dolohov, was that a smile I saw?"

He tried to school his face, but she smiled even brighter and waved her hand over her head "Yaxley! You'll never guess!"

Yaxley had come home early from work, he still wore his ministry robes, and his ministry scowl, he had an envelope in one hand, and a glass of wine in the other.

"What is that little dove?"

"Antonin _smiled_ , I've never seen it before today!" She laughed and wandered back over to Yaxley who handed her a brown envelope, out fell a small bottle bottle cap. "That was fast."

"Is this true? You actually smiled? I can hardly believe it." He laughed "Let's have a celebration tonight, then."

"Oh piss off Yaxley."

He liked when she laughed, even if it was at his expense. She looked back up at the huge manor house and down at the bottle cap again. "Portkey?"

"Portkey." Yaxley nodded.

"You're amazing." She beamed

"Don't I know it?" Yaxley replied said putting a hand on the small of her back and leading her back up to the house.

Things were always so easy with her, like a warm bath, or a good book, everything was warm and _easy_ to understand with her in the picture. Yaxley was complaining about his job on the walk back to the house, and she listened with rapt attention. She always did.

* * *

Rodolphus and the girl were brewing side by side in the kitchen, he liked to sit with them and watch. He was gradually realizing that there wasn't a thing she couldn't do. She was chopping dandelion roots quickly next to Rodolphus as he stirred the potion.

"Antonin, isn't it boring to watch me brew?"

"What else do I have to do today, _pchelka_? Should I go ask the Dark Lord for some busywork?"

"Don't mind him, Hermione, he's mad that I'm monopolizing your time." Rodolphus said and looked back over his shoulder at the man sitting at the kitchen table.

"Oh, is he?" She scooped all the roots up in one go and Rodolphus stepped aside easily to let her pour them in.

"Mistress Hermione," A house elf popped into the kitchen "Professor is here."

"His name is Severus, elf."

"Her name is Winty, Antonin, if you expect her to remember names, you must owe her the same courtesy."

"I know her name!"

"Trouble in paradise?" A rich baritone, a flutter of fabric, Severus stood at the door eying them carefully.

"Professor, come take a look at the potion we are brewing." She said excitedly

He stalked over and peered into the cauldron "Ten Points to Gryffindor for good potion clarity."

"That's the first time you've _ever_ given me house points."

"This is the first time I've seen a ward revealing potion. No one brews these anymore."

She looked over at the book and then back at Rodolphus who nodded "Well you see Professor, we have found an item of some interest..."

* * *

The face she made when things didn't quite work out the way she had expected them to pained him. It was a quiet defeat that flickered in her eyes, the sag of her shoulders, the huff of air. When they all sat in the dusty storeroom where the cup had been kept he watched her face defeat.

"It didn't work." She said quietly, chewing on her lip, looking at Rodolphus as if he had some kind of explanation, and he always did, but this time he remained silent.

They had poured the potion on the cup, but the only thing it succeeded in doing was making the cup wet. It didn't glow, or rattle, hiss or pop. The ward revealing potion had failed, and with it, her hopes of figuring out what the Dark Lord had tasked them all with seeped into the rotted floorboards.

"It's not warded, it's cursed." Severus said "It's clearly cursed."

"Then why does it burn when someone touches it!" She was frustrated, it seeped into her voice, she was shrill and at the end of her rope. The potion was an expensive brew, the time it took out of a brewer was why no one used it anymore.

"Hermione," Rodolphus admonished "You know better."

She looked at him and he could see her contemplating another outburst before she turned to him. He wanted to help, but he was as clueless as everyone else in the storeroom. He expected her to ask him to fix it, or to make it work. She seemed to petulant and young at that moment, with her mouth set into a thin line, but she did not do any of them, in a surprising move of maturity she looked at him, extending her hand.

"I'd like to take a walk."

"Good," Yaxley said from the other side of her "Let's get out of this stuffy room, yeah?"

All the men followed her out neatly in a single line, it amazed him how easily she got them to follow her. It amazed him how when they finally made it out into the crisp fall air, their spirits had lightened. She was magic.

* * *

Yaxley was too good at chess to play with, but they spent a sunday afternoon playing as the girl dozed peacefully against him in the sun streaming in through the lights of the library. She had been up late with Snape again, patching him up after a particularly harrowing meeting with the Dark Lord.

She claimed she didn't know what she was doing, that it was all things she had read from a book, but as Severus slept peacefully, patched up enough to bark orders are her and the house elves. He would shout back and she would cross her arms and stare silently at the two of them until they had worn themselves out.

She would wake up every so often if he moved too much, rolling over and groaning, hugging the open book to her chest.

Yaxley almost never commented on their relationship now, which he appreciated, but sometimes he gave them _looks_ that said he knew.

One time Yaxley asked how she was going to give any more blood to the vampires if she kept sleeping with him. Antonin jinxed him.

* * *

She was reading the letter and frowning, another one that Rabastan had passed along from that girl in the dungeons he was in love with.

"What is it?"

"Harry won't leave Draco alone, Luna has been running interference. Draco is getting desperate to succeed." She looked up at him from the letter "What if Harry goes to Hogsmeade during the plan? He'll cock it up, he's so stubborn."

"Can't you write her back?"

She shook her head "No, it's not wise. Umbridge last year was checking all mail, and it was so easy for her to do, it wouldn't surprise me if the Headmaster was continuing it. Sure he's all knowing, but where do you think that knowledge comes from?"

"You're all knowing in this house, _malyshka_ , do you have to check the mail?"

"No, the portraits...Oh."

"Write her back, Rabastan will deliver it."

* * *

"When is your birthday?" She asked one night, lying next to him in the darkness.

"Go to sleep, _malyshka_."

"No really." She said and he heard her shift next to him.

"December 7th, why?"

"How old are you?"

"Too old, go to sleep."

"I was born in 1939."

"Old." She said

He growled, rolling over to face her in the pale moon light, she had a smile playing at her lips and a light in her eyes.

"How old are you?"

"Too old." She mocked him and he closed his eyes "I guess I'm a little past eighteen, my proper birthday was in September, but we missed it. Too busy. I don't know how old I am now, the time turner...I abused it far more than than they expected, I sat through sixth and seventh year classes at least twice."

"They didn't know how dangerous it was to give a child a timeturner?"

"They did, they just didn't realize how dangerous it was to give _me_ a time turner." She giggled at her own joke.

" _Malyshka,_ sleep."

"What does it mean?"

"It means you close your eyes and stop asking me questions."

"No, mah-lush-ka" He smiled at her attempt at Russian.

"It means go to sleep or I'll kick you out into the hall and call Bellatrix to come get rid of you for me."

"Antonin." She whined.

"Goodnight, little girl."

A few minutes went by and there was a soft "Oh!" as she understood that he had explained it to her afterall. He couldn't deny her anything.


	12. Malfoy & Mistakes

Lucius looked far better than he had since Antonin was released, but far more nervous as he waited with Antonin in the Shrieking Shack. "Please Draco," Lucius muttered to himself, pacing the room "Listen to me just this once."

"Lucius, stop pacing, you're driving me mad." Antonin said, sitting at the edge of a dusty bed that looked like it had seen better days. "It's been twenty minutes and if you make another circuit around this room I'll _stupefy_ you."

"You are sure that these Order people were informed? They'll come?"

"Any minute." Antonin said rubbing his stubble on his chin and watching out the wood slatted windows. "Just listen for it. They're like clockwork."

She had been a ball of nerves this morning when he left, he couldn't get five minutes in the bathroom to himself without hearing his name, followed by a question he had answered several times since they had woken up. She told him to be safe, and hugged him again. He liked the way she treated hugs like they were supposed to be private, looking sheepish if anyone caught her being affectionate. He wanted to give her more privacy, more space to roam around in, but he had nothing, and he couldn't imagine taking her away from everyone else. To possess her and hide her was more of a sin than coveting her.

A crack of apparition, a few more, and then screams everywhere and Antonin knew that it was time. Lucius tensed up by the boarded up windows, looking outside for any sign of his son.

The aurors were shouting and he could hear Moody again, screaming for the boy to stop even as the auror shot hex after hex. Antonin doubted that if someone told him to stop while trying to hex him that he would. There was a bang downstairs of the front door being forced open and the thunder of feet on the stairs. A blonde boy who looked like he had forgot quite a few meals was holding an opal necklace with his wand drawn.

"Who are you?" He sneered, looking at Antonin as if he was scum that he had found attached to his overly expensive dragonhide boots.

Antonin didn't have time for this. He grabbed Lucius, he grabbed his snotty kid, and apparated to LeStrange Manor.

Drolly caught sight of them in the gravel driveway and opened the door quickly "Hurry Masters, hurry, they are waitings."

Rodolphus met up with them in the foyer, looking at the bewildered boy before turning his attention to Lucius. "Good, everything is arranged, let's get the memory and-"

"Father, what are we doing at Aunt Bellatrix's house?"

"Draco kindly _shut up_ and just follow instructions for once." Lucius growled walking so fast the boy could barely keep up with his long strides.

He rounded the corner to see the girl sitting in quiet conversation with Narcissa, holding her hand loosely and reassuring her. Severus was pacing the room in front of the fireplace, still covered in soot. There was a pensieve already prepared on a small table.

Draco raised his wand but Antonin plucked it out of the boy's hands. "No curses, no hexes, _sit_." Antonin said pointing to the wooden kitchen chair in the middle of the drawing room.

"Father, the task...for our lord-"

"Draco. Sit." Lucius snapped

She got up and walked to stand beside him, facing Draco who was now fidgeting in the chair under her gaze. Her voice was soft and sure, comforting "Draco, we need a memory from you. Professor Snape is going to extract it, and you will be moved to Elba for the rest of the war. You must not make any attempts to come back here, or your parents will be killed."

"You're not real, you're dead! This is another trick by Aunt Bella to prove my loyalty. Well I'm loyal! This plan will work."

"Your aunt is mad," Severus said next to her, his arms crossed "and it'll be the last time you have to put up with her. Count your blessings boy, because Miss Granger is about to save your life."

Draco made a strangled noise before responding "I won-"

"Draco, shut up." Narcissa snapped, her leg shaking as she tried to contain her fear, her anger. "Or I will make you shut up."

"Yes, mother." Draco said and sneered at the girl who was pacing in front of him.

"Draco," Severus bent down so he was eyelevel "Concentrate on the task the dark lord gave you, if you concentrate on it, it will be less...painful for you and less bothersome for me."

"Yes Professor," he darted a look at his mother and she was giving him an icy glare, his tone changed. "Yes, of course, Professor."

After a few moments of silence, in which he thought the girl was going to rattle to pieces next to him a silvery wisp of light was extracted from Draco's temple and placed within the basin, swirling and filling it with his memory.

"I have it." Severus said, looking relieved "and I have viewed it. I am not-"

"No, we don't discuss this now." Rodolphus said looking at everyone in the room. "We get the Malfoy's to safe-"

Winty popped into the room and began to sob "Please Mistress Hermione, _danger_. Mistr-"

The house elf went deathly quiet and stopped shaking the girl's robes, it's large eyes focusing on something behind him. It was all of a split second before his vision went red and the girl went down, her mouth open in a wordless scream.

"I followed Draco's tracking spell _here_ of all places when I heard there was trouble in Hogsmeade and what do I find? A mudblood, the mudblood that was supposed to be dead, and _traitors_."

It was much to Antonin's surprise that Rodolphus fired off a curse first at his wife, a forceful Expelliarmus that blasted one of the walls clean through. Bellatrix paid him no mind, instead sending a _Diffindo_ back at the girl who was now crawling on the floor. It bounced off a shielding charm, not his, not Rodolphus' but Lucius' who had stood up in terror to shield his wife from her mad sister and protect his son from her stray curses.

Antonin tried to stupefy her, he tried to crucio her, but she apparated again with a crack to within the living room next to Narcissa, her wand trained at Draco. "Useless! Useless Draco! I will teach you again! Crucio!"

The girl caught some traction and slipped on her own skirt, falling in front of Draco and taking another curse for the boy. Antonin sent another slicing hex and finally it hit. Her guard was down, she was too concerned with killing someone else, Bellatrix had left herself unprotected. A clean slice across her chest, blood flowed cleanly.

"Take this." The girl's teeth were chattering and she shoved the bottle cap into Draco's hand. "It's a portkey. Go! Now!" She screamed.

Bellatrix was faster, abandoning her wand, bleeding down her dress she grabbed the girl by the ankle and yanked her away from a petrified Draco who could do nothing but watch the scene in horror. He stood up, knocking the penseive over onto the floor, the contents spilling cleanly across the carpet.

"Draco!" His mother's voice cracked as she screamed her son's name "Now!"

Draco didn't need to be told twice tapping his wand to the bottlecap " _Portus_."

There was a blinding flash of Draco being sucked into the portkey and then screaming, high pitched and terrified. When the light cleared and he could see the source of the sound he realized It was his girl. She stumbled to where Draco once was shivering, blood on her hands as Bellatrix slumped down the wall, her eyes open and unfocused.

"I killed her, oh god I killed her!" Her words cut him deeply, she sounded like a wounded animal.

Narcissa looked horrified, as did Lucius, but neither moved to help their fallen relative, Bellatrix looked like a broken doll, her limbs contorted at painful angles as she sat propped up against the wall, her head lulled to one side.

"Please, we have to help. It was just a stupefy, I just wanted her to stop, you have to believe me." She was sobbing, shaking as she collapsed before the bleeding body of Bellatrix LeStrange.

"No." Rodolphus said "Leave her. Don't touch her, Hermione."

She looked horrified, blood on her hands from where she had tried to help Bellatrix. The _stupefy_ had blasted her back into the wall, hitting her head on one of the hundreds of picture frames and killing her.

Narcissa took one look at her sister before stepping over her body to comfort the sobbing girl. "If Bellatrix had lived, she would have had us all killed for our betrayal."

"Please, I'm not a murderer Madam Malfoy, please understand it was-please." She was hyperventilating, if he waited any longer she'd pass out. She deserved some privacy.

"Come, _pchelka_. Let's get you cleaned up." Antonin finally cut in kneeling down to her.

"Please, it was an accident." She was crying into her hands, smearing blood in her hair "Please."

He gathered her into his arms, she was wracked with sobs, whispering _sorry_ over and over again as he walked up the stairs. He heard Rodolphus order the house elves to clean up the mess, and Winty wailing, which only made his girl cry harder. Oh if he could have done it for her, if he could have kept her innocent. Antonin cursed himself.

He set her down in the bathroom, but when he thought she could stand, she collapsed into a heap on the floor, drawing her knees to her chest and burying her face, shivering so much her teeth were chattering.

"You're covered in blood." He said matter of factly. "Take a bath."

"Antonin," she sniffed, her voice muffled "I didn't mean to."

"Rodolphus was going to kill her, you were quicker."

She wailed and he tensed up. That was obviously not the right thing to say, he changed tactics.

"Let me clean you up, and then we'll talk." He offered "Okay?"

Her bushy hair moved and he saw one eye look at him. "Should I be clean when Rodolphus turns me out? Will Winty ever speak to me again? Do you _hate_ me?"

He spelled the taps to turn on, and hot water began rushing into the large claw footed tub. "Yes, Yes, No." He said stroking her hair the way his _matushka_ did when he had a particularly bad dream "Rodolphus will not turn you out, Winty loves you, and the virtue of shacking up with a bunch of convicted murderers is we all know what it's like to be in a situation where the worst option is the only option."

He slipped off her favorite blue robe, and reached to unbutton her shirt, she stopped him at the top button, her hands coming over his."Please, it's ugly."

"Nonsense, I gave you this one. I will not be repulsed by a scar, nor the fact that you're covered in my best friend's wife's blood."

She looked up towards the ceiling, chewing on her lip as his hands began at her neck and worked their way down. The scar was white against her skin, an angry mark that started at her collarbone and worked it's way down to her hip. He had never hated himself more in his life for a mistake.

He let his hands trail down it briefly before unbuttoning her skirt. She had the body of a goddess, all curves and creamy skin, a petite frame that was perfectly built. She twitched as the after-effects of cruciatus ripped through her and he made quick work of her undergarments. Now was not the time to admire her.

"Into the bath. I can feel Rodolphus outside." He said to the girl who was covering all that he found alluring with her arms and hands. "Don't drown yourself."

He shut the door, blood pounding in his ears. She was perfect, she was _perfect_ and she was _his_.

"I will have to tell our lord I killed her." Rodolphus said quietly, staring at the closed bathroom door.

"I can always say it was me, there's no need to get yourself tortured." Antonin replied, leaning back against the door, listening to her crying, wishing there was something he could say or do to make the first death easier.

Rodolphus studied his hands for a moment "No, you need to stay with her. It was well known that Bella was sleeping with Thorfinn Rowle, by the old laws it's my right to kill her. I will just invoke my status as her husband. He will have to respect that, no torture needed."

Rodolphus came back in the morning hours, his clothing in tatters, his breathing ragged as Antonin attempted to stop the blood that was now seeping into the carpet.

* * *

His girl was always a ball of light and energy, good natured and kind, but after Bellatrix's death, she became morose and withdrawn, often never coming out of her room at all, refusing Yaxley's assistance to tailor clothes, she sat in her bedclothes. She touched nothing.

He walked in on her speaking to Yaxley once as she sat near the fireplace close to halloween, staring into the fire as if she was trying to divine some worldly truth.  
"Love, everyone's worried about you, Bellatrix's death...it was inevitable, Rodolphus wanted an excuse, and we took it."

"I'm just as bad as she is, Yaxley." She said, pulling her knees to her chest "I've done so much to make sure that no one is harmed, and I killed her, Merlin but it was awful just to feel the life go out of someone like that. I'm no better than she was...I'm not worth more than her, but-"

"It's a hard situation, love." He murmured, spelling her cold tea away and refilling it for her. "This is a war, and if you want to make things better for a majority, you're going to have to sacrifice a minority."

"Rod-"

"Has come in here plenty of times to console you. Hermione," Yaxley hardly ever used her first name " _you_ know what Bellatrix has done to Dolph, his brother and his daughter. You've done such good for him, he could never begrudge you."

He couldn't remember the first person he had killed thinking it was just a small sacrifice for the majority. It was something Yaxley had told him then too. If he wanted to protect wizards, if he wanted to protect his family, then something had to give. At the time it was muggles and people who fought against him. It was either kill or be killed and he was always quicker. Now, seeing her curled up on the chaise seat near the bed, watching the fireplace and hearing the same talk from Yaxley, it felt different, almost sinister, to tell her that killing was right.

"We're worried for you." Yaxley said after she didn't respond. "Will you let me help you get dressed for dinner? Lucius and Narcissa are coming, and since it's Saturday, so is Severus. Rodolphus asked the elves to cook three dessert courses. Winty would appreciate your presence."

"Give me some time to think about it." She said at last, exhaling a soft sigh. "It's hard to face all those people...all the people that saw what I did."

Yaxley kissed the top of her head before he got up, looking over at Antonin who was leaning on the doorframe.

" _Malyshka_ , you're driving everyone in the house mad." He said as Yaxley brushed past him "If you don't come to dinner, I am sure Rodolphus is going to use a time turner to kill the woman himself so you'll stop torturing yourself over it."

"Antonin," her voice was soft "What if...what if I'm turning into Bellatrix? What if I'm becoming a _bad witch_."

It had never occurred to him that _this_ is what had upset her. That she thought that an accidental stupefy would turn her into one of the Dark Lord's devout overnight. He sighed and sat down across from her, pouring a teacup full of firewhiskey and handing it to her, pushing it into her hands until she took it.

"Drink." He ordered and she took a timid sip. "Drink and realize that Hermione Granger is not a gold digging witch who was so desperate to restore glory to her family line that she would join and fuck any wizard with an ounce of power to regain it. She did not accidentally kill men, she killed them for power and favor."

"But-"

"Drink more, idiot girl." He tilted the cup up and she took a gulp, swallowing it, her face becoming flushed. "Drink and understand that _Hermione Granger_ did not kill Bellatrix Black because she thought it would benefit her in any way, but because if Bellatrix did not die then she would."

"Antonin-"

He refilled her cup and his own. "Drink because you have been mourning the death of someone who has tried to kill you, who has tortured you, who has ruined the life of so many of your friends. You will _not_ become a 'bad witch' because you killed one person, and I will never let you become one, I will make a vow to you if I have to, but for Merlin's sake _malyshka_ , it's time to stop mourning the past, you have people counting on you."

She was crying again, he hated it when she cried. She was crying and tilting the teacup full of firewhiskey up so high her nose disappeared. Merlin, she was a martyr for everything. One life was nothing, didn't she realize that they were on the brink of a war? He looked up at her to see Rodolphus standing at the door with a white box that he knew were new robes.

"Come in, she's only crying again, nothing you haven't seen before." Antonin said, sitting back.

She slammed her teacup down and glared at him, at least when she was angry he knew how to deal with her. "Antonin, I hate you, you know that?"

He laughed, enjoying her fire. "I do, I do."

Rodolphus dropped the white box on her lap. "I've done a few things that you will hate, and this is the first of them." He said sitting down beside her. "Maybe if I'm lucky, you will hate me as much as you hate him?"

"I could never hate you as much as I hate Antonin Dolohov." She said pulling the lid off the box.

A dress, some more robes, this time in black instead of blue, equally as expensive. He was relieved that no one would inform her of the price of these robes, because Antonin would never be able to afford them for her.

"Oh, I suppose sleeping and letting him be the only one to see you for days is the privilege of _only_ the most despicable of men?"

"You're both awful." She said feeling the fine velvet, a small embroidery went around the edges and he recognized it to be the same as quite a few of Rodolphus' robes. "I don't want these, take them back, I don't deserve them."

He dropped a scroll on top of the robes that she was rejecting and she snatched it up and broke the seal quickly.

"I lied." She said her eyes scanning the page "I need these."

Rodolphus laughed and poured himself a teacup of firewhiskey. "Fickle girl." He refilled hers as well.

"The vampires have agreed, and they want to meet with us after the new year to see how they can help." She said a small smile playing at her lips "Took them long enough. Centaurs next, centaurs and giants and the cursed cup."


	13. Centaurs & Complications

Narcissa rose quickly to greet her, and she took a step back behind Antonin as she was wont to do when she was nervous. "Madam Malfoy." She said quietly "I wan-"

"Don't." She said and shoved a wooden box in her hand "Don't. You saved my son, and my life. This is a gift from us."

She didn't open it but instead looked away from everyone, furiously wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm glad you could make it to dinner Madam Malfoy."

"Narcissa, please."

"Narcissa." She reaffirmed.

Antonin stepped close to her, hoping to lend her some comfort, and she looked up at him gratefully. The fire blazed green and Severus stepped into the sitting room, eying her curiously, but deciding to say nothing.

"Well, it seems that a majority of the inner circle has defected." He said looking around the room.

"Master Professor, sir." Winty said "Firewhiskey or elf wine sir?"

"And with good wine," Lucius said plucking a glass from the tray the elf was holding and relaxing against the loveseat "Who can blame them."

The room had been rearranged since she had been down here last, it was Rabastan's idea to remove the offending frame and re arrange it to remove the bad memories. Her eyes kept darting to the corner where Bellatrix had died, Narcissa tried to hold her attention with idle gossip, and it worked but only just.

Yaxley came in last his hair windswept as he shrugged off his jacket. "Well, looks like the party has started without me!"

She peeked in the box only slightly, her eyes lit up and then faded. She looked around the room and most everyone was involved in conversation before giving him a shy smile.

"Come with me," She said to Antonin and stepped back out into the hall, far away from the din of idle conversation in the drawing room. "Yaxley." She said and he smiled at her over a glass of firewhiskey.

"Hmm?" He said as she walked towards the base of the stairs.

She opened up the box that Narcissa gave her. Laying on a bed of fine silk was her wand. "I thought it was snapped."

"I was _sure_ it was snapped." Antonin said "I tossed it in Malfoy Manor, I don't even remember..."

Yaxley picked it up and ran a few charms on it. "It still is registered with the Ministry, but I happen to know someone who works there, and we will just...switch the registration around. If you use it before then, it'll be considered a stolen wand and aurors will have to investigate."

He handed it back to her and she held it briefly before dropping it back in the box and handing the box to Yaxley. "I don't want it, I'll be tempted to use it, give it back to me when you know I can."

"Of course, love."

"Was there...anything else on the wand beside the ministry tracking charm?" She asked tentatively.

"No."

She looked relieved "So they're loyal to us after all."

"You doubted it?" Antonin asked, looking back towards the room where everyone was gathered.

"After what happened with Bellatrix..." she let the words hang.

Yaxley hummed in agreement "Come, let's see what the others are doing, Severus has been trying to see you as well."

The best way to deal with her grief seemed to be to keep her busy, and so, as the two men led her back into the drawing room they made sure to keep her involved in conversations. The more she spoke, the less distraught she seemed, and once Severus had begun to talk about theories he had on her ward revealing potion, there was no time for her to brood, her hands waving as she spoke to her old Potion's Master.

Dinner was full of laughter and conversation, and reminded Antonin of the early days of following the Dark Lord. Not somber halls of muggles to torture, but friends and family coming together to defend their homes. Yaxley was in the middle of telling a bad joke, Lucius was arguing with Severus about his boy's aptitude in potions, Narcissa was telling his girl about the robes that she had purchased recently. He realized he was seeing the beginning of something that would change history, and it all started with the teenage girl who sat beside him pushing around her peas.

Through the din of the conversation, Severus, sitting across from his girl produced a corked vial and set it upside down on the table, it rattled as he placed it, and looked at her severely.

"This is the object that cursed the Headmaster." He said "I brought it to you, in case it helps you with other things." He said cryptically.

His girl reached for it, but Antonin was quicker, plucking the vial off the table and rattling it around to see the ring inside.

"Don't reach for strange magical objects," Rodolphus admonished "Especially one that you have _just_ been told cursed someone."

"The curse has been broken, it's nothing more than a ring." Severus said, annoyed "I wouldn't bring a cursed object in front of her."

She grabbed the vial out of his hand and inspected it closely, rattling it around before holding it up "There's an symbol in the gem, this looks familiar too." She squinted before it comprehension appeared on her face.

"What?" Antonin asked trying to see the symbol again, it looked like nothing to him, a triangle, a circle, and a line.

"Rabastan, here." She said and leaned far over the table to handle the vial to the young LeStrange. "Tell me if you recall where you saw this."

A smile was playing on her lips as she looked over the table that had quieted down in the discussion over the ring. Rabastan only needed a few second before his eyes snapped to hers.

She said nothing of it, but instead turned the conversation back to Severus "So, what can you tell me about the curse on this ring?"

"The headmaster is a fool," Severus began as the dinner plates were cleared "and put it on to attain some power. He claims that it was _sentient_ and spoke to him, but I've never heard of such a curse in all-"

She had dropped her fork on the dessert plate. "It was _sentient?_ "

"The curse has driven him mad, I've been brewing potions to stop the spread, but he will be dead soon, Draco never needed to help, he _never_ had to risk his life to kill the Headmaster because, as I found out two nights ago, the Headmaster has already begun to kill himself."

"A sentient curse, I've only known of one." Lucius cut in, leaning forward over his half eaten plate of chocolate cake "but there is only one person who has told me of these objects and I do not know how reliable he was before-"

"Spit it out Lucius," Rodolphus snapped "Spare us the dramatics."

"They're called _horcruxes_ and they are a part of a soul. It requires a split of your soul worse than an killing curse, and parts of a person live on in these objects, giving them _sentience_ if you will, but of course, it's contained in that object, it never grows, it's like a fragment of time, but it speaks, it seduces, it possesses and it eventually kills."

Antonin looked at him strangely, the locket had mentioned that the horcrux was replaced. This must be what his lord thought he was protecting in that seaside cave. A horcrux!

"Who told you?" She asked after a few moments of silence from everyone in the room.

"Oh, Narcissa's brother, Reg." Lucius said flippantly before digging back into his cake.

"Regulus Black?" Severus asked. "What did he know about curses? He was a prankster his whole life. Died laughing."

"He said he had found one to Narcissa, that he was having second thoughts because they used his blasted elf or something to make one? To find one? It was so long ago, I can hardly remember myself."

"There's another one of these? Tied to our Lord? How many are there?" Rodolphus said next to her "How-"

"It's useless to speculate." His girl cut in, but even so she looked nervous "We should research it more, maybe there's no limit to the amount he can make, but...if they take part of their creator that might be something we can use against…" She let the sentence hang.

She handed the ring to Rodolphus who slipped it in his robes. The rest of the dinner centered around problems at the Ministry with Dolores Umbridge, of which there was no lack of agreement or stories from the men sitting at the table.

Later that night she was sitting in Rodolphus' bed, Rabastan laying down next to her while the older brother paced the length of the room.

"Luna has the same symbol on a bracelet, I've seen it before, it was a gift from her mother." She said rattling the ring as if it was going to suddenly spring forth answers "We need to bring her here, we need to ask questions, it's too sensitive for owl post."

"Christmas?" Rabastan asked hopefully.

"Christmas." Rodolphus agreed "How many of these cursed horcrux do you think there are?"

"If Reg had found one, that's three, at least. A sentient object, an evil object, a piece of a soul. That's heavy magic." Antonin said from the chair next to the bed "If they're part of him, can he sense their location?"

Rodolphus paused. "Does he know of our betrayal already? The cup-"

"No." She said "We need to find out more about horcrux, and the only lead we have is that Regulus Black's house elf is somehow connected to it."

* * *

It was early November when she had finally decided to do something about the centaurs after many protests between the LeStrange brothers who did not want to visit ever again. The pens were at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, twelve kilometers from Hogwarts, and next to a half frozen river, and because the pen was just outside of Hogwarts, they would apparate there to avoid being seen in the forest.

"You're sure, Antonin?" She asked for the twelfth time as he cast a warming charm and a concealing charm "If there was perhaps a _charmed_ map that might show a person's location, this will conceal me?"

"Is this a hypothetical map?" Yaxley said beside her, all five of them were gathered in front of LeStrange Manor "Because it doesn't sound hypothetical, love."

She glared at him "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would actually." Yaxley shot back.

"Enough," Antonin intervened "I've placed four concealment charms on you, the only reason we can see you is because we know you're there. There's no _map_ that could reveal you, even if our Lord was the cartographer."

"You're _sure_." She said and Rodolphus groaned.

"Please, let's go." Rabastan said impatiently "I want to get this over with."

Antonin could see just the tips of the spires of the castle from the treeline that had only a few leaves left on branches. The forest was quiet, the only sound was the crunch of dead leaves beneath their feet. The centaurs were living in filth, like horses without caretakers, they paced around the wooden pens, kicking up mud in the cold November air. Rodolphus and Rabastan kept her behind them, most of them looked emaciated, hollow and thin as they crowded together for warmth.

She pressed up against the ward on the pen with her hand, and he did the same, like cold glass. He knew Rowle's warding strategies well, and this was another shining example of predictability. A few centaurs caught sight of them and began to walk towards them, tails swishing angrily. No human was a friend, and Antonin was sure they remembered Rodolphus and Rabastan from their previous visits. He withdrew his wand to begin dismantling the wards, but a noise of protest stopped him.

"Not yet, Antonin, this is all we have to offer them, and this is what I want to try to give them." She said quietly and clasped her hands behind her back, stepping up to the ward so her nose was touching it, he could see the ripples in the warding reacting with her inherent magic.

"Girl." A voice called, a centaur with blonde hair that reminded her of Lucius Malfoy "You are pure, but your captors are not. Explain."

She looked taken aback by this, looking over at all of them, searching their faces for answer, Antonin stepped closer to her, the wind picked up and blew her hair across her face, she turned back to the centaurs.

"Are you the leader?" She asked, placing her hand on the ward.

They all moved away from the blonde who still looked healthy compared to the rest of the herd. "I am, you may call me Bane, girl."

"Hope that isn't what he's gonna be." Yaxley said behind her.

She turned to give Yaxley a look, but said nothing, facing the centaurs again.

"Bane." She repeated "My name is Hermione Granger, and we will be setting you free today."

"Why?"

She frowned "I disagree with treating magical creatures like this, so we're setting you free. I don't want anything in return from you. I know centaurs do not wish to meddle in human affairs."

There was a murmur among the herd and she stepped back when she realized there was no reply. "Okay."

"Quickly," Rodolphus said, pulling her back away from the pen "Quickly, I have a bad feeling about this."

"There's no one here but us, Thorfinn is asleep since he is a great idiot, _because_ only great idiots would willingly sleep with Bellatrix." Yaxley said kicking at a rock, looking over at Antonin.

Antonin began with a simple diagnostic charm, and then began the complicated runes to undo the wards that had been set up as Rodolphus and Yaxley began to argue about who was the greater idiot, present. Yaxley was losing.

"Quiet." She hissed. "Did you hear that?"

The incantations got more complicated, and he had to concentrate even more. Thorfinn's wards were by the book, strong and tedious to undo, the hooves of the centaurs shaking his concentration as they paced eagerly near him. He felt the wards shiver and he knew he was close. A few more lines, a few more runes hastily drawn with his wands and the wards shimmered like a fine fabric blowing in the wind.

A red jet of light broke his concentration as a voice yelled _Crucio_. He reacted out of instinct, flinging his wand towards the sound and watching Thorfinn and Macnair come after Rodolphus who was intent on defending the girl behind him more than cursing.

Yaxley had stepped in front of him, deflecting a curse from Macnair with ease, flicking a diffindo that missed and hit a tree, and with a crack, it crashed into several others.

"Finish the job!" She was screaming at him, her eyes met his, her back against Rodolphus' "Finish it, Antonin!"

A jet of green, and Rabastan was out from behind his brother in a rage, dirt whipped up as he began to shoot curses, splitting Macnair and Thorfinn into the woods, chasing after the latter, screaming for him to fight.

"Yaxley-" Antonin began.

"Centaurs first." Yaxley said and blocked a curse that came jetting out of the woods. "Come out Macnair, you cunt!"

He turned back to the centaurs, hastily executing the last few wand movements, failing a few times as panic set in that he was wholly undefended from an attack as he lowered the wards.

"Look out Ro-" She screamed and it was cut off with a thud.

The wards fell and he turned to see Rodolphus dueling with a furious looking Macnair as he tried to protect her. She pushed herself off the ground, her eyes wide as she looked at something behind him. The ground was shaking and Yaxley's hand came around his arm, yanking him upwards and out of the way.

She was lost in the stampede, they all were. He was pressed against Yaxley as centaurs raced around them, their hooves like thunder on the forest floor, they rushed past them without a single thought to the humans dueling. Antonin threw up a repelling charm and felt Yaxley's back against his, and as soon as the stampede started it ended, and they were alone in the empty clearing.

"We cannot let them get away, we _cannot_ let word get out." Yaxley seethed.

"The girl-"

"Antonin!" It was Rabastan "Where is Rodolphus? Her-"

"Find Rowle and Macnair!" Yaxley growled "or we're all dead!"

And they split into the woods, the hooves of centaurs echoing in the distance, tree branches hitting him as he felt the beginnings of the familiar magnetic pull of the tracking charm that slipped his mind more often than not. He turned back towards the direction he knew she was in and caught sight of Yaxley firing curse after curse into the wilderness. He chased after him, his feet carrying him faster than he thought he could ever run at this age. As they ran in parallel the magnetic tug pulled on him more, it felt like he was running against the wind. He caught sight of the black cloak of Macnair and whipped a diffindo that took out six trees, and fell six more. Yaxley's laugh was heard over the deafening cracks of wood falling. The forest settled, cracks and creaking of wood as it adjusted to the new clearing, birds fled, and Yaxley sounded maniacal.

Antonin approached where Yaxley was circling, like a predator around the branches of a large pine he had sliced down. "He's here?" Antonin asked his friend who was scratching his hair with his wand.

"He is."

He heard a groan of pain and heavy breathing coming from within the branches, the pull of his girl nagging him even as he began to cut the branches with well placed cuts, and there he saw him, a former compatriot, a strong and terrifying murderer, Walden Macnair, half trapped underneath a large evergreen, his face bloody, his eyes staring up at them terrified. Fear, Antonin hadn't seen that look in so long on anyone but the girl.

Antonin climbed closer to him, branches cracking underneath his weight until his boots were nearly touching Macnair's head.

"Walden." Antonin said quietly, the forest still settling. "Walden, you made a mistake."

"Traitor!" Walden spit blood at him, but it went nowhere near even his hem, blood trickled down his face and he closed his eyes. "When our lord-"

" _Silencio._ " Yaxley said, nudging his head with his boot "Walden, I'd ask you if you had any last words, but I'm afraid it's probably just the imperius talking again."

Old grudges never seemed to die when it came to Yaxley, Walden Macnair's betrayal during the trials was a grudge that Yaxley never would forget. Walden started to shake, the same way that her shoulders shook when she was crying, and though his eyes were closed, Antonin knew he was crying. His stringy brown hair plastered against his face, blood caked with dirt and pine needles.

" _Diffindo_." Antonin cut at his chest, near where the tree trunk met his body.

Walden screamed, he knew he screamed, but no sound came out. The forest was silent. How dare he go after _his girl._ He would pay.

"Do you know why you're going to die Walden? Not because you sold us out before, oh no, but because you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong crowd." Yaxley sounded dispondent, but Antonin knew better, Yaxley was furious. "Thorfinn has always been the wrong crowd."

"Av-"

"Don't." Antonin said, grabbing his wand hand "Don't. Not the killing curse."

Yaxley's eyes flashed dangerously and ripped his hand out of Antonin's. "Let me do it, damn you."

"No! He's not worth sharding your soul over. Sever his head, let him bleed out, but no soul magic. We know there are dangers."

Yaxley looked over at Macnair and sighed. "Ok. _Accio_ " a wand flew into his hand and Yaxley snapped it in half, causing Macnair to let out a wail. " _Divesto_ "

Yaxley tossed the broken wand on top of the broken body of Walden Macnair as he lay naked, trembling, crushed beneath a tree.

"Next one." Antonin said, flicking his fingers in a slicing motion, cutting open Macnair's throat and snapping a few branches as they walked away. "Next one."

"I thought you had gone soft for a moment." Yaxley replied, picking a few needles of his jacket. "I should have known better."

He focused on the pull of her, and grabbed onto Yaxley's arm before they both apparated to find the most important possession: his girl.

* * *

When he apparated, he caught sight of her blue robes deep in the woods and then she was gone. She was running, dodging curses, Rodolphus was missing, Rabastan was firing curses far behind her at Thorfinn who was hot on her tail.

Thorfinn was savage, he tore through the woods like he was raised in it, slicing down trees in much the same way Antonin would if he was on the hunt. Thorfinn was a skilled wizard that matched Antonin in many areas, and the thought of his girl being pursued by him made his chest ache painfully. He apparated to where he had last seen her, and then again, taking off behind her as she stumbled and darted through the underbrush, a curse narrowly missed her, singeing her hair as she shot back another stupefy.

"Rodolphus!" She was screaming for him, but he was gone. She was alone and unprotected and it was all his fault. "Rodolphus has been cursed Antonin _find him_."

"Dammit girl!" He growled and he apparated closer to her still, until he could hear her labored breathing, smell the vanilla soap she preferred "Come with me, come with me."

"Antonin, trust me!" She wheezed another curse went by her head "Trust me and find Rodolphus, please!"

He wanted to reach for her, he wanted to tell her how weak and fragile he was, but she was out of his grasp now, and he could never run as fast as a teenage girl. Antonin turned back, the tug of her tracking charm beginning to ache as she disappeared deeper into the woods. He apparated back to the clearing and began to walk in the direction that they had ran, listening for anything other than the muffled silence of the forest and the leaves beneath his boots.

It was about ten minutes of wandering when he began to hear screaming, hoarse cries from the underbrush and wheezing. He apparated closer, again and again until he found him. Rodolphus was twitching on the forest floor, his fingers clawing through the dirt as his body writhed in pain.

"What was the curse? What did he throw?" Antonin said kneeling down beside his body, it burned to the touch.

Rodolphus went still. He had passed out, and a few diagnostic charms said he was still breathing. He put a tracking spell and a stasis charm on the man before apparating back to where he knew his girl was.

No longer running, no longer in fear. Rabastan and her stood close together, shouting at each other. She was looking down at the unmoving body of Thorfinn Rowle on the forest floor, his nose was broken and bleeding and his wand snapped.

"He has to die, Hermione." Rabastan said, exasperated. "He saw you, he saw what we did."

"An obliviate." She insisted "and let me heal him."

He stepped up beside her and realized she was holding a bloody tree branch, probably the one that had smacked him in the face. Thorfinn groaned and shifted, his hand coming up to his face.

"We have to kill him, I already took care of Macnair." Antonin cut in, taking the branch out of her hand gently, he did not want to be on the receiving end of her fury.

She looked at him strangely, he hated that look. He knew she hated violence. He knew she hated what he did.

"See, if he comes back healed up with his memory modified with Macnair dead, he'll be as good as dead anyways." Rabastan reasoned with her.

He knew that if they both tried to talk this out, Rodolphus was as good as dead by the time they finished this debate where he already knew the answer. He tossed the branch, grabbed the girl and spun her against him, and with a silent slicing hex to the throat, Thorfinn Rowle died. Death was never a dramatic thing to Antonin, it came, it came for them all.

"Antonin!" She said pushing away from him angrily.

When she turned she saw the corpse of Rowle and started screaming. Her hands coming over her mouth, her eyes wide as she looked between the two men. She had suddenly realized what company she was keeping.

"Rab, get rid of the bodies." He grabbed her roughly and she smacked him clean across the face. It stung, but not as much as her disappointment in him. He closed his eyes to suppress the anger that was coursing through him. "Hit me again _pchelka_ and I'll stupefy you."

"We are not murderers!" She was crying now, trying to pull away from him again.

"We _are_ , we all are." Antonin snapped.


	14. Soul Magic & Slug Club

She was brewing with Severus after she had calmed down, refusing to talk to anyone else in the house as she cared for Rodolphus. A blood boiling curse that had gone on too long, his whole body was red and he hadn't regained consciousness. Rabastan and Yaxley were out staging the accidental deaths of Macnair and Rowle, trampled to death during the escape of the centaurs.

"You can't ignore them forever, Granger." Severus said lowly "They saved your life."

"I saved my own life, I had it under control." She shot back, her head turned a fraction towards Antonin who was sitting at the table in the kitchen drinking firewhiskey. "It was a senseless murder."

"You're being childish, I expected more from you." Severus said quietly "You claimed you knew about their pasts-"

"I did! I do!" She was exasperated and Severus stilled her hand on the cauldron. "Still-"

"Get a hold of yourself girl, this is a war." He snapped, obviously irritated. "Two men are nothing compared to what is going to happen soon."

"Don't get on my case, Professor. This is difficult enough." She snapped "I'm trying to help Harry as best I can."

"It is _beyond_ me, Miss Granger, why you think that you're doing anything to help Potter."

She stepped back from the sink where the salve was brewing and looked up at the dour Potion's Professor who was dicing boomslang skin. "Wh-"

"You've become a major player in this war, all on your own. Potter doesn't need to win, merlin knows he doesn't have the discipline to do so, only you." He scooped up the skin with his knife and slid it into the cauldron that turned a shimmering teal "The Order is useless, Dumbledore is losing his sanity to a curse, and the Potter boy may be powerful, but he refuses training. Some dead mudblood from Surrey is the last hope of the wizarding world and she's in a snit because someone who tried to kill her died."

"We're fucked then, eh?" Yaxley said entering the kitchen as he took off his coat.

Winty popped in with a tea tray and sat it down in front of Antonin who moved his firewhiskey out of the way. "Good evenings Master Yaxley."

"'Allo Winty, some of Hermione's favorite biscuits too if you can." He said sitting down next to Antonin and pouring his tea.

The house elf grabbed a roll of Cadbury chocolate biscuits and placed the plastic packaging on a plate before handing it to Yaxley.

"Is this true, love?" He asked opening the packaging before pulling out a biscuit and handing it to her.

She was standing a few feet away from the counter with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, after a few moments of silence she took the biscuit, the chocolate began to melt on her fingers. Her eyes fell to the biscuit, but she did not eat.

"I don't like killing people, even if you think it's necessary!" She said, obviously trying to control her short temper "If we kill everyone we come across then I am no better than the Dark Lord. I already...it's already terrible what I did to Bellatrix."

"Kill before you are killed, many people are counting on you, _we_ ' _re_ counting on you." Yaxley stressed.

She looked back at the lithe form of Severus as he stirred the potion. "Death caused me so much suffering, I don't want anyone to suffer."

"No one is suffering, love. No one suffers quite like you." Yaxley's voice was quieter, and he pulled out a chair next to him "Come sit and have some tea before you go back up to Dolph."

"The potion has to reduce anyways, we could all use some tea." Severus said and took the seat on the far end of the small table, leaving only one seat open for her.

She sat and ate her biscuit, and Antonin could feel the tension in the room ease.

" _Pchelka_ ," he tried and a blush rose on her cheeks, she did not look "He cursed Rodolphus, he was going to do the same to you. Understand what had to be done, I did."

"Centaurs are free." She avoided the topic "Hopefully they stay closer to Hogwarts, it will afford them protection."

Yaxley poured her tea and she brushed a few errant tears off her face. "It's frustrating, killing people hurts me and no one else seems phased."

"We have a few years on you yet, love." Yaxley joked and she smacked him playfully on the arm.

* * *

Rodolphus had woken a few times screaming, but since she had put the salve on, he had been quiet. She was sitting next to him reading a book, nodding off every so often on the loveseat near the foot of his bed. Rabastan had refused to move from his brother's bedside and was sleeping with his head on her brother's hand.

"Do you think what Professor Snape said earlier was true?" She asked as the fire died down.

"He said a lot of things today." Antonin hummed, he was tired but he wanted to keep watch on her "Explain."

"About Harry and The Order and...well us."

Antonin looked down at the book she was reading, more about soul magic, and then to her. "I am not sure, you know more about Potter and The Order than any of us."

"I just want us all to get out of this alive." She said, running her finger along the edges of the book "I'm terrified of more nights like tonight."

" _Malyushka_." He said thickly, wishing to console her, but he didn't know what to say.

They both remained quiet until her breathing evened out and she fell asleep. He adjusted her gently until her head was on his lap and her book was on the side table, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling. What was he doing with her?

She was burrowed into his chest when he woke, sandwiched between the loveseat and himself, a fire was roaring and the smell of fresh tea made him turn his head to see Rodolphus sitting up in bed and reading his mail.

"I already ordered breakfast for all of us." He said looking up from a parchment "Hermione, mail."

She woke with a start, almost pushing him off the seat in the process, her hair had doubled in size and her eyes were half shut. "Wazz'at?"

"Mail, from that Slughorn fellow."

Soul Magic was something that wasn't covered at Hogwarts, she explained as she unfurled the scroll, but for some reason they had a soul magic scholar that she had found teaching potions.

"It's strange," she sipped her tea before continuing "Dumbledore must _know_ that Slughorn has published several papers on low level soul magic, on the effects of the unforgivables on people, but he has him teaching Potions instead of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Can potions be used in creation of these things?" Rodolphus asked, dragging his pancake through a sea of syrup. He looked very spoiled eating breakfast in bed while Antonin and Hermione ate at a small table near the fireplace.

"I am not sure how to make one." She said reading over the letter and frowning "Useless."

Antonin picked up the parchment she had tossed on the table, in large fancy green and red letters at the top he read _You're Invited_ , it shimmered as he read over the invitation to a Christmas Party.

"Useless." Antonin reiterated "What did you write to him?"

"I asked for information regarding Soul Magic of course, he's written only two papers on it, but then he suddenly stopped in the early 40s. There must be a reason, and I asked for that as well, but, nothing, just an invite to this party."

"Perhaps," Rabastan said tiredly from the chair he had slept in all night "What he has to say is too sensitive for owl post?"

Her eyes lit up.

"If I remember anything about Slughorn, he was a goody two-shoes, why would he be involved in any soul magic?" Rodolphus asked

She stabbed at a piece of bacon on her plate, missing, and stabbing again. "No magic is inherently evil. It is always intent."

"Wise words, _malyushka_." Antonin said beside her. She flushed at the compliment.

"I can't go to Hogwarts to meet him, but if we want to find out anything about that cup, I'm going to have to."

"Hermione Granger can't go, but we could...make you into someone different? Glamors and the like, Yaxley is a genius at those." Rabastan proposed.

"I...it would be very difficult for me." She said suddenly, her voice small "To see Hogwarts, to see-"

"Let's speak with Severus about it." Rodolphus said "If he _does_ have information about the cup, these horcrux, then getting you to him is crucial, what did you say your name was?"

"Jean LeStrange." She said. "I hope you don't mind my using your last name."

Antonin had never seen Rodolphus more delighted, he hid his smile in his teacup, but it was obvious to the room.

* * *

Severus was averse to the idea, saying that he'd rather forcefully take the information from the man than have her come into the castle. She reluctantly explained to the room over a Saturday nightcap in mid-November about the existence of the Marauder's Map.

"The hypothetical map _does_ exist." Yaxley said next to her when she finished.

"It's a _big_ problem since it does exist, it can track everyone in the castle, including you Professor Snape, including Headmaster Dumbledore."

Severus was seething across from her but doing his best to hide it. "We have to get that map away from the Potter boy. You cannot come into the castle while he possesses it."

She looked at Antonin hopefully "You...wouldn't know maybe the charm that is on the map?"

He shook his head "I could if we had the map, but without it, there's at least twelve charms I can think of right now that would produce something like that."

She leaned back against the sofa, lacing her fingers together and looking up at the ceiling of the drawing room. "It says on the invitation that it's for this club, the slug club, I saw it mentioned in Hogwarts a History, I saw a picture of you, Rodolphus."

"Yes, as members of the original twenty-eight we were sure members. The slug club of our year was the founding of the death eaters. Tom, myself and a few others like Avery and Nott were in the wine and social climb club. Deadly boring, Slughorn was trying to make a name for himself since he's new money, and it didn't work. Instead he just got the powerful types together, and eventually we all left him to start…" Rodolphus screwed up his face as if he remembered a bad taste.

It was the first time he had heard Severus laugh in his life "Knights of Walpurgis."

She burst out into giggles "What an obnoxious name!"

"Oh it sounded good at the time," Rodolphus said "It stuck even through Severus' years, that's how he got us."

"What do you mean?" She asked

"Well we weren't murdering muggles when we were 15, that's not how he gets you." Yaxley said "It was a _research group_ , to find lost magic, forbidden magic, of our ancestors."

"You look surprised, Miss Granger." Severus sipped his wine and leaned forward "Do you think that we all started murdering and cursing as firsties?"

"No, it just seems like such _innocent_ beginnings." She said "A research group turning into the most feared group of all time?"

"What no one has admitted is that Horace Slughorn is the reason why the Knights began." Rodolphus continued "He spoke of magic that was forgotten, old magic that our ancestors used, if he truly knows about soul magic and horcruxes, then it must be ancestral magic."

"So," she said "how _did_ a research group turn into the Death Eaters?"

"Studying ancestral magic turned into preserving ancestral magic and then preserving everything _around_ ancestral magic, including their beliefs, and our land, and then it turned into _fighting_ to preserve our heritage, our magics, and now it's turned to exterminating." Yaxley refilled her glass during this, and she rolled it in her hands, the wine turning into a vortex.

"It all made sense at the time, it really did, love." Rodolphus sounded sheepish now "Like boiling a frog in water, every step made sense."

"It wouldn't surprise me," she said, ignoring his apology "if he had this planned all along."

"It all started after the Slug Club." Rodolphus reaffirmed "I would have _never_ met Tom Riddle without that, he was a nobody when he came to Hogwarts, no money, no connections, only smarts, much like Severus."

"The slug club is the best way to begin your Death Eater career." Severus replied "I met Lucius there."

"Then this Slughorn man _must_ know something about the soul magic, if the dark lord knew him, if he published about it before, there's a connection. We'll have to go, there's no question that we must meet with Slughorn and get information out of him." She turned to Antonin "You'll come with me?"

"I was never in the club." Antonin said finally, slightly annoyed by admitting this fact, his family was as old as Rodolphus' but, old families in Russia have no sway in England. "Not the right sort."

"You are," she insisted "but I don't want to go alone."

"You can go," Rodolphus insisted "You will just be me instead, and Hermione can be my brand new cousin Jean LeStrange, courtesy of Yaxley."

"This doesn't help our original predicament." Severus cut in. "Polyjuicing everyone in the room doesn't solve spy map issue."

"If Harry is present then no one will be looking at the map." She took another sip of the wine "and from the sounds of it, he'll be invited."

"No one can come with you, in case you forgot the room save for Yaxley, you, and myself are criminals." Severus replied.

"Yaxley can come, can't he?" She asked hopefully

"I will take you." The potion's master stood up and looked at the clock "you can be my date."

"In your dreams Severus." Antonin snapped, now irritated that she would be going with him alone.

Severus rolled his eyes "Jean LeStrange should be ready that morning, I will have to explain your background to a few people before the party if this is going to go well, Potter needs to lose the map somehow, but I suppose we're all just going to ignore the glaring risk of having a map with the ability to identify everyone in the castle."

* * *

" _Severus_." She practiced in the mirror that morning "Sev-er-rus. Does it sound normal when I say it?"

"It does." He agreed, getting dressed on the bed, watching her spin in a new dress Yaxley had _found_ conveniently for her.

Yaxley hadn't found it, Antonin had, he went to the muggle store Harrod's and picked this light blue velvet dress that flowed around her as she walked. It reminded him of Christmas in Russia, she looked like an angel, but he wouldn't admit as much. They asked for money, but he hadn't paid. Yaxley said he never paid either. With an imperio, the dress was free.

It had been snowing, and she had fallen into sort of a melancholy routine, there was a well worn path in the back gardens where she walked with him and Yaxley, she corresponded regularly with the Vampires and her parents, and read book after book on soul magic, dark curses, and more, but found little to help. She claimed that they were going to help the Giants after Winter thawed, but he found out that she was impatient.

"Do you have the invisibility potion?" She asked, wringing her hands together, looking anywhere but him.

She had brewed Polyjuice herself, explaining that she had done it before in second year, the vial sat steaming next to the mirror, Rodolphus, still recovering from the blood boiling curse laughed when Severus told the story. She downed it in one go, and then she suddenly was a LeStrange cousin, a dead one whose hairbrush they found.

The portrait that she looked like, a pretty young witch who had contracted cholera and died in the 19th century looked over her approvingly. "Mistress Hermione, you do me justice."

She was shapely with black hair that fell in waves down past her waist and almost to the floor, the dress that fit his girl perfectly strained against her bust. Antonin spelled her dress larger, and it almost fell completely off, the portrait screamed and so did she, and he was promptly shoved out the door.

"Idiot." Yaxley said as he shoved past him into the room. "It's okay, love, let's get that fixed in a jiff."

When she exited the room, he was already invisible, they had agreed that she should have someone she trusted with her, and for good reason, the whole house, save for her, distrusted Severus still.

Severus was surprised to see her when she came down twenty minutes later, and he tagged along close behind her. "I have enough for all day," she explained, holding up a flask "Like Moody."

"The Auror?" Rabastan asked.

"It's a long story, too long for this morning, let's go Miss Granger."

He grabbed onto her arm and followed them outside where Severus grabbed her wrist and transported them both. If he noticed the extra energy to transport three people instead of two, he did not comment.


	15. Forgotten Friends

She was fidgety as they walked towards the castle, rubbing a piece of fabric between her thumb and her forefinger. Her blue robes, a prized possession from Rodolphus, fluttered around her as they walked up the ground. Her head moved slowly from side to side, but from his vantage points he could see that she was scanning the grounds rapidly. Was she nervous about being back? Was she planning to escape from them?

Her gait slowed as they walked up the building, not twenty paces from the steps to the front door. "You must." He said softly, his tone warm.

She exhaled a shaky breath, and Antonin placed his hand on the small of her back, she relaxed slightly. "Okay, yes, of course Pro-...Severus."

"Severus!" Minerva McGongagall was passing by, leading a group of young children behind her "Who...who is this?"

"We are here to see the headmaster." He sounded irritated "Please continue on Minerva."

All three of them walked up the stairs, the portraits whispering as his girl became frantic with worry. Another flight of stairs and he could hear her breathing quicken. "Severus, Severus please, don't do this, don't _ruin_ this."

"I have to, Merlin knows he's going to find out, he knows, I can feel it." He sounded desperate "It will work out for all of us."

She yanked her arm out of his grasp, almost falling down the stairs but her momentum swung back forward and she ran up to the next floor, Severus chased after her, and Antonin behind him.

He rounded the corner to see her disappearing into a classroom, and he slipped in before Severus slammed the door shut. "Don't try it Professor." She called from the back of the room, a stunner missed her and shot a hole in the blackboard "I understand you feel honor bound."

"Dammit child!" He roared and she dodged another stunning spell "You understand nothing!"

"Hear me out! Please! Just let me say something fi-Professor!" She was ducking underneath a table, hidden in the shadows, he missed again.

"I'm trying to give you an option to get out of the game, no unbreakable vows, no killings, no more service to Dumbledore _or_ the Dark Lord." Her voice was muffled by the wood "Do not clip my wings by putting me back under Dumbledore, look at all the good we've done! Please Professor, do not doom me to the same fate as you!"

" _Hermione_ ," He sounded desperate, his voice was raw "Come out, I need to prove-"

She stood up, it was not her, but a LeStrange that stared back and he hated the way that felt. It felt like loss. "Professor, I can't, you're going to ruin this, please just trust me, trust Rodolphus, we can help."

"I need to prove that I'm _loyal_ to someone, and bringing you to him will bring me peace of mind."

"You are loyal," She said and stood up "Take me to him, make him happy, but do it only because you want to, not because you have something to prove. There is nothing you have to prove to me Severus Snape, I know you're a good man, I know you're loyal."

He hesitated, his wand frozen in his hand. "He knows I'm hiding something."

"And you are."

"I have to kill him."

She shook her head, shrugging her robes back up onto her shoulders, they had slid off during the tussle. "We'll find a way."

He slid his wand away, looking out the window as she walked across the classroom, righting chairs with a little bit of levitation as she passed. "I can't let him die thinking I was a traitor, just like I've always been."

"Even if you turn me in, I'll still think you're loyal, there's nothing to prove. I trust you Severus Snape, if you think that's what will do the most good, then I will go."

There was a coughing noise and he moved to see Severus' face, he was shaking and staring over her head. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I will follow."

"Oi! What's goin' on in here?" A redheaded boy burst open the door and she looked like someone had smacked her in the face.

Severus pulled her into him, hiding her from view, and Antonin felt a jealous rage explode inside of him. Traitorous girl, harlot! How dare she fall so easily into the arms of another man.

"Out! Weasley!" He snarled and the door slammed shut, a few wards came up next.

He opened his robes again and she fell to her knees on the stone floors, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed into her hands.

"I miss them." She cried "Merlin, I miss them all."

Severus got down beside her, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her up "Follow me, Miss Granger."

They were in Severus' dungeon quarters, a fire roaring in the hearth didn't help either of them overcome the damp chill of being underground. She was looking at him, or looking through him, groping around the couch for him, he offered his hand to her, she was so cold. "Stay strong." She said "We have to get through this."

Who was she talking to? He leaned in close to her, his lips inches away from her ear. Even the smell of the LeStrange woman she had polyjuiced as was different "Keep it together, _pchelka_."

She grabbed at his robes, he let her. "I felt like he knew, he had to have known it was me."

"No," he said quietly in her ear, he missed the way her old hair tickled his nose when he got too close "You are safe."

"I didn't turn you in after all." Severus said sitting down with a tea set for the two of them. "I'm making a mistake."

"Do you feel that way?" She asked pouring the tea before he could "Honestly, Prof-"

"Call me Severus, I don't deserve to be your Professor." He waved her off.

She laughed "Severus," She tested it once, cracking a smile "Severus, I still trust you."

"You're the only person who has ever said that to me." He said pinching the bridge of his nose "I've taken so many vows to so many people."

"We're just friends looking to get out of this war alive." She said laying back against the couch in his sitting room. "That's all this is, I'm helping my friends."

"You're not my friend, Hermione." He said and sipped some tea.

Her dark eyes fixed on his "No one said you had to be my friend, I am just saying I'm yours."

"Strange girl." He groused and accio'd papers to mark "Odd girl."

She smiled and looked down at her hands, Antonin caught the slight sadness in her features. Perhaps it was because no one could see him, but Antonin slipped his hand into hers, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. He hated her friends, they hurt her.

The fire had died down and they were eating lunch in his quarters, sandwiches and pumpkin juice.

"Hermione," He said, chasing salad with a fork "Maybe we could be acquaintances."

"Ten points from Slytherin for being obtuse. We're already acquainted."

"Merlin, how does Rodolphus stand you."

* * *

"Severus put you on edge. I'll kill him once it's over." Antonin said, leaning up against a toilet. "Selfish weasel of a man."

"No," She looked in the direction of his voice "No I understand he's in a hard position, what about me?"

"Jean LeStrange is going to be the star attraction if you keep flashing your tits to everyone." Antonin replied, enjoying the way she flushed red with anger and pulled the robes shut over her low cut dress.

"Rude man, insufferable man." She huffed and stormed out of the bathroom. He liked the way her eyes blazed when she was angry.

The party was loud enough to be heard down the hall, she met up with Severus and took his arm, he slowed his gait for her, and the closer the got, the more her head swiveled around in recognition of her peers.

"Jean LeStrange!" A voice boomed "Why I remember when you were just a little thing running around Hogwarts." Horace Slughorn came into view, his arms wide open for a friendly hug

Jean LeStrange of course, had never attended Hogwarts. She smiled and gave him a friendly hug. "And now look at you, dating our talented Potion's Master I see, what you wrote about makes sense. Come in, come in, I have plenty of people for you to meet."

The party was filled with children and adults of all ages, Antonin had to dodge a pair of sixth years who were getting overly friendly to the waltz that was playing on the enchanted quartet. Adults lined the walls in quiet conversation as the students danced on the floor. She followed Horace who was introducing her to Sanguini, he looked over her curiously before taking her offered hand and kissing it. Severus steered her away, but Sanguini followed. He knew the true identity of the girl. It was obvious.

She would look back every so often, the voluminous black hair bounced as she walked and swayed as her head moved. She would catch sight of someone she knew and freeze, her eyes going wide, but Severus yanked her forward. His girl made a terrible spy, it was plain as day that she was not some foreigner.

"Stop looking at people." Severus hissed as they finally made their way to the punch bowl "Just look at me."

"Snape has a girlfriend?" Antonin turned to see the same redheaded boy from early drinking out of a goblet talking to the infamous Harry Potter.

The latter looked morose even as Luna, who looked like a Christmas tree in all the tinsel was standing next to him, rocking back and forth impatiently on her heels.

"Death Eater friends, no doubt." Potter responded

She pressed forward, her head bowed slightly. He wished they hadn't been invited. Sanguini had his hand on the small of her back as both men steered her to the back of the room. Her eyes were glued to her old best friend as he spoke.

Antonin instead studied Luna whose eyes were scanning the room for something before finally resting on him. The girl had powers that scared even him. Antonin brushed up against his girl who looked up at him sadly.

"What brings you here?" Sanguini asked, scanning the room.

"Information." She replied, taking another sip of punch

"Need any help?" The vampire gave a smile and he could see his fangs.

"Good company, maybe, good conversation, definitely, a friend, absolutely." She said and gave him one of her blinding smiles.

"I owe you a great deal, so I will give you all the above."

She laughed "Good, good."

Antonin went to go observe the great Harry Potter, the child their lord despised above all else. He was angry, it practically radiated off him as he stood against the table with the redhead who had his arm slung around some pudgy blonde thing. Antonin could end the war now if he killed Harry Potter, it was amazing how low security the savior of the wizarding world had. Harry was glaring at something behind Antonin, and when he turned he saw Severus speaking with his girl and Sanguini. She spoke animatedly, the way she moved her hands when she spoke about academics still shone through. Did the Potter boy hate Severus? It looked like it.

The music suddenly changed and the pudgy blonde whined about how no one danced with her and the redhead gave her a kiss before pulling her out onto a waltz. Luna was staring directly at Antonin and she pushed him back away from her, again and again until they were over by Sanguini.

"You forgot something." She said to Jean LeStrange "I brought it back."

"Thank you." His girl said and looked over Luna's shoulder but he was nowhere near it "I missed it."  
Antonin liked the idea of being missed. "Luna." An irritated voice said behind him "What are you doing over there? You're my date, no need to hang out with _Slytherins_."

"Ten points for insulting a professor and his guests, Potter." Severus drawled. "Leave before I make it fifty."

The Potter boy looked as if he had been smacked, turning to look at Jean LeStrange, opening his mouth to say something but Sanguini stepped in front of her, brushing against Antonin. "You were saying about potions that mimic blood?"

"Yes," her voice was shaky "yes, well you see if you-"

"Leave, Potter." Severus sounded dangerous " _Now_."

She looked up at Severus grateful, and nodded, she continued her explanation of pseudo-blood while Luna was dragged away from the group by a furious looking Harry Potter.

"The boy can't control his temper." Severus frowned "That is what will lose us the war."

"Is he taking lessons still, with you?" She asked quietly "With Dumbledore?"

"I don't believe Dumbledore is giving him occulmency lessons, but he won't tell me exactly what he is teaching the boy either."

She bit her lip and looked up at Sanguini "Go on, I will be more than happy to be a human wall." The Vampire said and sipped more wine, grimacing.

"We press forward with the plan."

"If you were alive maybe-"

"No." She panicked "No, don't do this to me again."

"Relax." He murmured.

She didn't.

The uncomfortable feeling of being watched stayed with him the whole night, and when he turned he would see the Potter boy staring at Severus with obvious disdain.

"I wish he would stop." She sighed, looking over at the Potter boy "How can you stand it all night?"

"Eye contact, he can't stand it." Severus said matter of factly "Watch."

"Don't antagonize him." She admonished.

"Horace is coming, let's get this done." Sanguini interrupted the two of them and stepped aside.

Horace Slughorn was a tottering old man with a bright smile and pudgy sausage fingers that he was surprised could bend. He walked up to the group with rosy cheeks and said "How are you all getting along over here?"

"Follow us, Horace, there is something we must show you." Severus said gesturing to the door to the party. "It's of the utmost importance."

They walked silently out of the party, a notice-me-not charm gave them the invisibility they needed to walk down the halls of Hogwarts without question, and she opened the door to the girl's bathroom she had been pacing in earlier, letting them all slip inside.

Severus conjured a chair and offered it to Slughorn who began to look frightened, his eyes darting around wildly to everyone in the group. "Horace," Sanguini said, smiling the way a fox would to a rabbit "We have some questions."

"Yes, yes of course." Horace laced his hands together "Ask away. Ask away."

She brought a finger to her chin, trying to think before beginning slowly "Professor Slughorn, I am aware that you were on the forefront of the research of soul magic in the thirties and forties, correct?"

"That is...a regrettable part of my past." He said "I am sure your cousins wo-"

"They can't." She said flatly "You will. How is a horcrux created? How is it destroyed?"

"Miss LeStrange, this is hardly the ti-"

"Answer her!" barked Severus, clearly irritated.

"Horcrux are created through murder, there is a ritual where they trap a person's soul with theirs in a magical object. The murder must be done through a soul curse so that it is free from the body and able to be imbued in an object."

"Is it any object?" She asked "How is an object chosen?"

"There is a brew, if you soak the object in this potion, it will become more...receptive to the magic, most objects, powerful magic objects that have a meaning to the caster, are more successful. Is that all? The part-" Severus drew his wand and Slughorn fell silent.

"How many can one person make?" She was getting nervous, she kept looking back at the door.

"There's no way to know." He said "Please Miss LeStrange, this is dark magic we're talking about, it's really be-"

"How can they be destroyed? Quickly!" She was getting panicky, Antonin put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him gratefully.

"Soul magic, fiendfyre, patronus, all will destroy it, but the more powerful the horcrux, the harder to destroy."

"Does the creator know-"

There was a bang behind them and the door to the bathroom swung open to reveal a very irate Harry Potter. They were followed, Antonin froze.

"Traitor!" He bellowed and the girl jumped.

"Mister Potter," She pleaded "Harry, please don't."

"Who the _fuck_ are you?" He hissed "Another one of his cronies? Another death eater?" The wand pointed at her and Antonin cast a quick shield charm, it shimmered over her but she kept moving forward.

"Listen, we don't...know each other, but it's in your best interest to leave." The girl held her hands out, tears in her eyes "Just forget about this and _leave_ , you shouldn't be here."

"Miss LeStrange." Slughorn said, his voice high "I think it would be best for _all_ of us to leave."

If there was a worse thing to be said in all those moments, it was her assumed name. "LeStrange?" The boy spat at her, he stepped forward causing her to step back "I should have known."

"Harry, not like that, Harry please listen to me!"

"Potter!" Snape roared and Slughorn backed into the bathroom, sensing danger in the air.

The ghost began wailing, Severus was shouting and his girl was begging for him to stop, but it came out in a tumble of shouts. _"-sempra!"_

Antonin moved fast, but not fast enough, the spell clipped her and tore her side open, hitting most of him in the back as he tackled her to the ground. It felt like someone had pried his skin apart and he could feel hot blood trickling down his back. "Antonin?" She asked coughing, "Antonin."

Sanguini covered his mouth at the scent of her blood, his eyes flashing dangerously red as he turned back towards the wall.

Antonin rolled over on top of her, pinning her to the ground as he shot a Stupefy towards the doorway, mingling with Severus' the boy was blasted back out into the hall, the door swinging shut.

The wailing grew louder "Shut up!" Antonin roared, a few swears coming out in Russian before he laid his head on her shoulder.

"We have all of five minutes before someone discovers the great Harry Potter stunned out in the hallway, damn his temper."

She was pressing into the cut on her side. "Ow, ow, ow, Antonin move you're hurting me."

He could barely move, he could barely feel his fingertips. He exhaled a shaky breath and felt her fingers thread through his hair, stroking him gently, luring him into sleep.

"Fine, we should have done it my way in the first place." Severus sounded furious "Legillmens!"

His girl closed her eyes and sighed "This is not how I planned at all."

"Damn the plan." Antonin coughed into her ear and she flinched.

"Are you okay?" Sanguini asked the tile wall "Because I'm not."

"This is the last time I listen to a _child_ on how to conduct espionage." He said pulling up the invisible Antonin "Stupid girl. _Stupid girl_. You should know better than to reason with Potter, he's completely unhinged."

"We have to oblivate him, we have to oblivate them both." She said looking at a slumped over Slughorn in one of the stalls. "This never happened. Merlin, Severus." She was trying to get up but failing, her hands coated in her own blood as she tried to stem the bleeding in her side.

"Help me, Sanguini, we can't leave him." She grabbed Harry Potter and dragged him by the ankle back into the bathroom, falling over herself even as Sanguini did most of the work. She made the wand motions with her hand " _Ennerverate_."

His eyes fluttered open and she sighed. Antonin looked over to see that the Polyjuice had worn off in the tussle. Her robes now hung off her loosely, her hair was a frizzy mess, it was all the things he had missed over the last evening. Sanguini knelt next to her, desire was apparent in his eyes even if he tried to control it.

"Her-Hermione?" The boy asked.

She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes and pressed her finger to his temple " _Obliviate_."

Sanguini fled.


	16. Loyalty & Lockets

"Gods, _fuck_." She cried as they got back to LeStrange manor "How could this have cocked up so badly, I hate this! _I hate this_."

"I should have known you weren't alone, Hermione." Severus groused next to her, dragging the heavy half conscious form of Antonin Dolohov up the drive, his feet dragging in the gravel. "Idiot girl, you should have told me."

"Went well?" Yaxley asked from the doorway, watching them walk up the main road.

"Oh yes, got sliced open in front of a vampire, had to oblivate my best friend, Antonin is probably _dying_ , and honestly, we didn't learn anything useful!"

"You didn't learn something, but I definitely did." Severus groused

Rodolphus was waiting with Winty who held a tray with the antidote to the invisibility potion. "Hermione? You're bleeding _everywhere_."

Antonin was barely lucid, he caught glimpses of her during the conversation as Severus dragged him up the drive. Her blue dress was cut open and hung loosely on her petite figure, barely affording her any modesty. Yaxley grabbed the other side of the invisible figure.

"Antonin." She said looking at the empty space between the two men, her eyes scanning everywhere before she opted to start feeling him.

Oh her searching hands felt so devilishly good as they roamed the expanse of his body. He let out a small moan as she went higher, what he wouldn't give to have her touch him.

"Awake, he's awake." She sighed with relief, her hand tracing along his chin until her index finger found his bottom lip. "Sorry, Antonin, bottoms up."

He didn't remember swallowing the potion, he didn't remember anything until he woke up in bed while she was being bandaged beside him, her arm across her chest for modesty as Rodolphus poured more potion on the wound. "You'll live, another scar to add to your growing collection. What was the curse?"

"Sectumsempra." She said and sighed "Where would he learn such a violent curse?"

"It's mine." said a voice on the other side of the door, Severus, his voice muffled by the wood "But where? Where would Potter learn my spell? Albus?"

"What is he teaching him?" Yaxley said from the other side of him "Is this what passes for grades now at Hogwarts?"

"Slughorn told us how to destroy them, but nothing else, useless man, _odious man_." She yelped as Rodolphus poured a second potion onto her wound.

"He didn't know much more than that." Severus huffed. "We were not the first to obliviate him, nor will we be the last."

"Let's destroy the cup then!" Yaxley said "One less-"

"My last question, whether he creator knows that the horcrux are destroyed, was interrupted." She looked upwards, Antonin smiled. "We can't do it here, we have to take it far away. I can't risk it."

" _Malyushka_ ," He groaned and she turned around to see him, she was the Goddess of War, a scar cut down her middle, covered in bandages and blood. She was ethereal. "Bed."

"Come, we'll get you some night things." Rodolphus said "and then you really do need to sleep. I am sure Sanguini will be here bright and early tomorrow."

She disappeared into an adjacent room and Yaxley laid down beside him. "So, what kind of relationship do you have that you'll give your life for her?"

"None." Antonin growled "None relationship."

"Why didn't you curse the boy before he threw the curse?"

"I can't curse her best friend."

"Ah, because you don't care about her feelings."

"You're a cunt, Yaxley."

"Oh!" She said coming back into the room, now dressed in a white nightgown that was made from a shimmering silk. "I didn't know this room was _occupied_."

"Come on love, time for a threesome." Yaxley said opening his arms.

"Dirty old man." Antonin groused beside him.

He was surprised when she got into bed, and was even more surprised when she crawled over Yaxley to lay between them.

"Strange girl." Antonin said "Fuck off, Yaxley."

"No, he can stay, not everyone has taken sleeping potions, Antonin." She stroked his hair and he fought the urge to smile.

"The more the merrier." Rodolphus said, changed into a black silk sleeping set as he spelled the fire back to life. He opened the door to allow Severus in, followed by Rabastan.

"You saw her right? Luna? Did she look beautiful?" Rabastan blurted out, Severus looked back at him, annoyed.

"She did." Her voice was soft "Of course she did."

"So, how are we going to destroy the cup?" Severus asked, sitting down by the fire, a tea service appeared and Winty came over to serve the girl on the bed.

"Well, let's open the room to ideas."

Antonin fell asleep to the conversation, not really listening to the words, just enjoying the feeling of her touch.

* * *

"Mistress Hermione!" A voice cried next to his ear "Mistress Hermione has a visitor."

"Wha?" Her soft morning tones woke him completely, an elf was kneeling on the bed near her feet. "Sanguini?"

"Yes, tea in the drawing room?" The elf asked.

"Yeah, of course, I will be right down."

Antonin grabbed her wrist "Not alone."

His wound still felt as fresh as it had when it was first made, a stinging burning sensation of the gauze and potions against bare flesh, but he couldn't let her see him, he saw the bloodlust in the vampire's eyes last night. He was dangerous.

"What are you going to do? Drool on him?" She asked and when she sat up he could see that Yaxley was sleeping peacefully on the other side of her "Yaxley, wake up."

"Come, love, back to sleep." Yaxley said and tried to pull her back down but instead she kicked him off the bed.

Antonin hung onto her as they walked down to the drawing room, Yaxley was ahead of them both, he was wearing a robe and some pants, and nothing more. "What did Rodolphus put on my wound? Acid? It _stings_."

Sanguini was pacing nervously in front of the floo, watching the dawn light begin to filter in through the windows.

"Drolly, close the curtains." She ordered, and then as an afterthought "if you could."

The house elf, dressed now in Christmas colors, pulled the curtains shut so the room was completely dark, the candles lit themselves, the portraits filled themselves, Antonin slid down onto the couch, trying to keep some dignity.

"Miss Hermione," the vampire looked at her nervously and continued to pace "I was sent here after I spoke with the Old Master about what transpired earlier today."

"Sanguini," She gave a warm smile "I understand why you left, and I am glad that you left. I never want to put my friends in difficult situations."

Antonin rolled his eyes, his back was sliced open, was that not a difficult situation? Yaxley elbowed him in the arm.

"I abandoned an ally while they were in their greatest time of need, and so, according to our laws, I must bind myself to you."

"No," she yawned "No vows, no bindings. I don't care if you leave when I am bleeding out on the floor, I understood why. You'll follow me if you want, and you'll leave if you want. We are all prisoners here, Sanguini, and the only thing I'm trying to get is freedom and equality."

"Miss Hermione, I am bound by ritual."

"Then break it, no ritual is worth your life, Sanguini, I don't care how ancient." She said and walked up to him, her hair only came up to his chin "We are friends, not master and slave, and I will write that in a letter to your _Old Master_ , and he can release you from whatever ritual he started."

She offered him her hand and he took it, sandwiching it between his own, he saw goosebumps on her flesh. "If I cannot give you my life, is there something I can give you?"

She smiled up at him "Keep me company at breakfast?" Sanguini gawked at her and she tugged him forward "Let's go."

Sanguini spoke at length of many things, none of which interested Antonin more than her hand that easily laced with his, every time he was close to nodding off at the table she squeezed it and he would sit upright. She would smile at him and mouth "okay?" before he'd nod.

Antonin liked the way that she said his name, in passing or directly, the practiced Russian intonation made him unbearably proud of her. Antonin liked the way she could keep up with men who had studied their field for longer than she had been alive. Antonin liked her, it kept thrumming through his very existence, no longer was he able to deny that. He fell asleep again, oh but it was so easy, when her warmth seeped into him. Her existence was his reason for existence, _Hermione_.

* * *

"Rabastan!" She cried as the quartet sounded off for the sixth time this morning "Tune the instruments or banish them!"

Antonin was still recovering from his injury as the Christmas Hols began, Luna was coming today, fresh off the Hogwarts Express and into their home. Rabastan was beside himself in decorating for the perfect Christmas. This included many things Hermione hated, loud noises, intrusive decorations in the library, and a tree that began to move if she got too near. Yaxley was playing a half hearted game of wizard's chess across from Antonin in the library, and Hermione was curled up into his side like a cat, reading about fiendfyre.

Rabastan popped his head in, a bright smile on his features "Sorry love, sorry, will tune them right now. It's just there is so much to do!"

Winty served them tea in what appeared to be a dress made entirely out of tinsel, a lively look in her eyes as she recounted all the changes they had to make to get ready for Luna's arrival. A portrait was speaking to Hermione about the unjust decoration of his frame, and Hermione told him that there was nothing more she could do, but offered him another if he could share with a hippogriff.

"I have never seen the house so _alive_ , Christmas is magical." Rodolphus said as he walked in, dropping a letter on her lap "or perhaps that Luna girl is magical. The manor hasn't looked this cheerful in my entire life."

"Oh come off it Rodolphus," she said scanning over the letter before tossing it on the table next to the chess board, a pawn, angry that it had been captured, jumped on the parchment in a fit of rage "Surely there's been a good Christmas before now?"

"My daughter's...first Christmas was good, in a way, but this is much better, don't you think? I get two lovely young ladies, and not just one." Rodolphus said sitting down next to Yaxley and opening the Prophet.

 **DOLORES UMBRIDGE: MUGGLEBORNS MUST BE SAFELY CONTAINED**

Her eyes flicked to the headline and then she nudged him "Your move, Yaxley is-oh for Merlin's sake, Rabastan!" The out of tune cacophony continued and she finally got up to help him tune the instruments.

Yaxley had cheated. Antonin knocked his pawn over in retaliation, the quartet was suddenly in tune, and Rodolphus turned the page.

"Mistress Hermione?" The tinsel elf, Winty, popped back in "There is a visitor! Master Malfoy here to see Mistress Hermione."

"What is _he_ doing here?" Antonin snapped irritably getting up, struggling to keep his back straight so his wound wouldn't reopen. Yaxley pulled him to standing and laughed at him.

"Old man." Yaxley said

"Shut it." Antonin walked towards the door to the library the music getting louder as he made it out into the hallway overlooking the foyer.

She was humming the tune the quartet was playing downstairs, her eyes closed as she walked to the beat, quietly " _Hark the Herald, Angel's Sing"_ wafted down the hallway. She looked so peaceful, it tugged at his heartstrings.

"Mistress Hermione," Winty said, running past Antonin "Mistress Hermione!"

"Winty," her peaceful expression turned to distress "What's wrong?"

"You have a guest!"

"Thank you Winty, I'm coming to get Rodolphus before I visit with him, and Antonin, but he's already halfway here." She looked up at him and smiled "Winty, if you could fetch Master Rodolphus."

The elf was gone before she finished her sentence, leaving her alone with him. "Idiot." She said playfully, walking up to him and offering him her arm "Let's go downstairs."

"I don't need your help, you're injured." He said leaning against the wall to stabilize himself. "I'll just wait here."

"Antonin," She said quietly, taking his arm "Come on, there's no shame in getting help, you saved my life, can't I help you?"

He hated the way she looked at him sometimes, it made him feel dirty to want her, to covet her, before he had saved her life there wasn't this urgency inside of him. He wanted to complete her, possess her, corrupt her. The thoughts ran through his head even as she helped him down the stairs. He could never do that to her, that wasn't love. This wasn't what was best for her. His love was a destructive force, and he couldn't destroy her.

Lucius had a small gift wrapped box in hand as he waited in the foyer, she was peering down over the railing at him. "Good Morning, Lucius, you're not the blonde we were expecting."

"Miss Granger!" He said and started towards the stairs.

She waved her hands. "No, we'll meet you down there, Antonin is a bit _slow_ this morning."

"It's just a quick visit." He said and met them halfway up the stairs "We are having a bit of a party on Christmas Eve, and would be delighted if you all would attend, the usual muck and mire are going to be there, but-"

"How is she going to go out in public?" Antonin said, a stair above her as she broke the seal on the invitation "Malfoy you're an idiot. Don't dangle things in front of her she can't have."

"While a ball sounds lovely, Antonin is right, Jean LeStrange got into too much trouble at Hogwarts." Hermione said quietly looking over at Antonin "Who is the usual muck and the mire?"

"Oh, Narcissa's family, ministry socialites, whoever she deems appropriate." Lucius waved it off, and shoved a small box in her hands "This came to me...from a family estate that was recently transferred out of our hands. Our solicitor allowed Narcissa to visit before it was taken out of the Black family name. The house elf gave her...this as a gift."

"Is it cursed?" She asked, looking up at Antonin "What is it?"

"It is cursed, but...in the same way that you mentioned, a sentient magic, a horcrux I believe." Lucius looked at Antonin who had snatched the box instantly "I do not wish to be in your debt, Miss Granger, but I feel that this will make us even."

Rodolphus was making his way down the stairs when she replied "You were never in my debt, Lucius, I want you to know that. If I cannot attend your party, you're both welcome here, on Christmas day, or whenever."

"I have other errands to run today, Dolohov, Rodolphus." Lucius said, before walking back down the stairs and apparating away.

"What is it?" Rodolphus asked, looking at the box in Antonin's hand.

"A gift, a horcrux possibly." Antonin said and handed it up to him.

Rodolphus pocketed it "We don't have time for this today, there's too much-"

"Let's just take a look when we place it near the cup, or maybe it shouldn't be near the cup?" She paused and bit her lip, she looked so sinfully innocent when she did that "Let's put it on the other side of the manor from the cup, I don't want them to somehow become some...bigger more terrifying horcrux or something."

"Oh like _that_ 's going to happen." Antonin rolled his eyes, she smacked him playfully.

They walked into an empty room that contained only a wardrobe that had been picked clean, and she realized instantly that this was Bellatrix's room. "Here, then." Rodolphus said, placing the box on the ground, pulling the ribbon loose and opening the lid before standing back up "Furthest away from the cup."

She peered down at it, all three of them did. "Is that a snake?" She asked bending closer. "Something is written, but it's too dirty."

The locket began to rattle in it's box before a cloud of black smoke jetted up from it, fingers reaching out of nothingness towards her. Antonin yanked Hermione back away from it, and Rodolphus spelled the box shut.

"This one is worse than the cup." Rodolphus said looking at her, concerned "Are you okay?"

She brushed her hair back from her face, fear flashed in her eyes before she schooled her features, giving both of them a bright smile "Yeah...yeah. We're going to need to ward the room. It _feeds_. Gods, I can feel it even now, can't you?"

"Come along," Rodolphus said "Antonin will ward it, he's better than we'll ever be."

She didn't let go of his hand, even as they walked out of the room, tugging him along. She watched as he erected the wards, and he realized it was the first time she had ever seen him do something he was good at. Antonin was employed at Gringotts for a minute, his cursebreaking skills were legendary, as was his warding abilities. She hadn't paid attention to him when they were at the centaurs, but now, he had her rapt attention. He felt a pang of nervousness run through him as he made the familiar movements.

"You're amazing." She said testing the wards gently with a prod of her hand "You could be a professional."

"He was a professional." Rodolphus commented, looping her hand in the crook of his elbow "Or at least he had the goblins fooled."

"Goblins? Gringotts?" She looked at him incredulously. "Antonin you are _quite_ the man of mystery."

He walked in front of them, he didn't want her to see the way he reacted to her praise. Grown men didn't blush, _he_ didn't blush, his face was just hot.


	17. Pasts & Possessions

She was asleep when Luna came. As much as she didn't like to show it, the cutting curse on her side took equally as long to heal as his. Antonin was sipping tea as she curled around his back, her riotous curls splayed on one side, her knees practically on his lap. Yaxley was gone for the day, Ministry business, and Rodolphus was never one to talk often, instead reading a book, trying to find exactly what the object was that they had locked in Bellatrix's old bedroom.

Rabastan was speaking excitedly to Luna as they walked past the drawing room, but suddenly the voices stopped in the doorway. "Mister LeStrange, Mister Dolohov." She said and smiled at all the portraits in the room "Others."

"Good afternoon, Miss Lovegood." Rodolphus said, snapping his book shut loud enough to disturb Hermione.

There was a grumble and he felt her shift "Rodolphus, why can't you read quietly?" She whined sitting up and then suddenly she bounded off the couch. "Luna! You've arrived safely!"

Hermione took a few steps over but then stopped, "I hope-"

Luna waved it off and gave her friend a hug, causing Hermione to yelp in pain but she tried to return the hug despite the discomfort. "Careful!" Antonin barked.

"This...is what happened during the party? When you came?" Luna slid her hands around her side and Hermione hissed, Antonin stood up, ignoring the pain in his own back.

"It's nothing." She smiled "Just a bit of a scratch. Please, let Rabastan show you around, I don't want to put a damper on your day. I'll be here, I've been tired."

"Because you won't sleep." Rodolphus cut in "You have people coming and going at all hours."

She rolled her eyes but she was still smiling.

"Luna, please, I have so much to show you." Rabastan seemed anxious and Hermione laughed.

Luna held her hand briefly before letting go, following Rabastan up the stairs, the portraits followed the girl and Hermione turned back to him. "They're good together, don't you think?"

"She's a child." Antonin said, stretching out on the couch so that she couldn't sit with him. "Rabastan is fooling himself if he thinks that she takes anything but pity on him."

He cursed himself internally, realizing he had said his own insecurities out loud. Rodolphus folded the paper down slightly to look at him seriously, but Hermione left, most likely to follow Rabastan on the grand tour of the manor.

"Why not confess to the girl while you're at it?" Rodolphus said, hiding behind the paper again "What else is left unsaid? A declaration of marriage?"

Antonin hid his face in his hands. Rodolphus picked up on everything, even moreso than Yaxley. Damn him. "I don't really _like_ her, I just-"

"If it looks like a duck…" He trailed off but before Antonin could reply the floo roared to life, Yaxley stepped out covered in dust and seething.

"Damn that Umbridge woman, my job is to _catch_ criminals, not become one. _Fuck_." He was holding his arm.

Rodolphus was up in a beat, prying Yaxley's hand off his arm. Yaxley hissed, but continued his rant "Muggles, damn those muggles, with guns! And they just fire them all over, no sense of aim."

"What is the Ministry doing with muggles?" Rodolphus said "Your suit is burnt, Yaxley."

"It's Scrimgouer! He keeps mucking around with them, it's like poking a beehive. Everytime we go for a _peace_ meeting, it ends up with a _piece_ of me missing." He laughed and bent over "Fuck. I thought we were just talking. They have some muggle cruciatus now. They called me a criminal! Me, of all people."

Hermione appeared at the doorway at once. "I heard the floo, and voices. Oh! Yaxley!" She sounded scandalized and rushed to him "Wh-What happened? You're bleeding."

"Your muggles are getting clever, aren't they, love?" Yaxley turned on her and "Guns, and now some cruciatus thing that they stuck in me."

She looked confused, but everyone in the room was staring at her for some sort of explanation "Cruciatus thing? Let's get your arm bandaged, and maybe I could tell you about the cruciatus thing once I see where they "stuck" it."

They laid Yaxley out on the bed and he rolled over onto his side. "I can still feel it, it's like thorns in my back, fuck, _fuck!_ Watch your hands, love, I'll hex them off."

She smacked him in the shoulder before looking back at Antonin and Rodolphus who were standing near the doorway in his bedroom. "Can you hold him? Or do something other than watch?"

Antonin was the first to hold Yaxley down, holding his hand and then his shoulder, careful of his injured arm. Rodolphus held onto his legs and she ran her fingers down his back. "Oh! Oh, okay. Hold on Yaxley, it'll only pinch a bit."

She pulled out two pieces of wire and on the end there were needle looking objects made of metal. "You were tased, you should be fine, except for the wound."

When no one seemed to comprehend her she continued, her tone patient "Muggles use electricity to temporarily stun people without shooting at them, they fire these two pins like a gun into your body, and then feed electricity into it, the electricity feels like a cruciatus as it renders your muscles useless, better?"

"Fuck muggles." Yaxley groaned before rolling over on his back. "They deserve what's coming to them."

Antonin agreed, but Rodolphus stayed silent, and after that, so did she. She cleaned his wound quietly, picking out pieces of cloth that had stuck itself to the wound, bandaging up what she could and left the room, leaving him and Yaxley by themselves. The silence was companionable, there wasn't much that needed to be said between them.

It took fifteen minutes to realize she wasn't coming back, and another five for Yaxley to put his hand over his face.

"Antonin?" Yaxley said, his voice muffled as he hid his face

"Yeah?"

"I made a mistake."

"By the looks of things, you made a few mistakes." He gestured to his wound on his arms "Really? Taken down by muggles?"

"No, can you fetch Hermione and ask if she will come speak with me?"

A portrait brought her, and she had her arms crossed as she stood at the door, she had that fire in her eyes that he enjoyed so much. Her face was flushed, and her magic, sometimes under control but most times not, made her hair poofier than usual, crackling at the edges like static. "What do you need?"

" _Hermione_ ," Yaxley rolled over, he used such a petulant voice, Antonin was taken aback "Come here love."

"Do you need something?" She snapped and looked back down the hallway.

What was her problem? Was she upset because Luna was here and monopolizing all of Rabastan's time? Antonin never knew her to be petty.

"Are you going to make an old man, an _old_ and _injured_ man get up?" He asked, flopping over dramatically on the bed and sighing. "Just come here."

"I'm leaving, you're being a real jerk Yaxley." She said and left the doorway, Antonin could hear her boots down the hall. "Call Rodolphus if you need something."

"Fuck." Yaxley looked at Antonin "Why didn't you do something?"

"Do something about _what_?" Antonin said, sitting back down "What's got into her?"

"Antonin, you're really an idiot sometimes." Yaxley said rubbing where she had bandaged him. "Remember the whole _fuck muggles_ thing?"

Antonin looked at him dumbly, then realized _he_ had agreed with Yaxley about giving the muggles what they deserved. Shit, shit, shit. " _Malyushka_!" He said getting up from his seat slowly.

"No, Antonin!" She was still in the hallway, not far from Yaxley's bedroom, her shouting could be heard through the house "You saw what Umbridge said, you agree with her don't you? Muggleborns should be safely contained, so I'm containing _myself_."

A door slammed, Antonin had finally gotten to standing. "You're a real cunt, Yaxley, you know that right?"

Yaxley looked up at him, weary "Sorry, love. We both go down together."

Rodolphus appeared in the doorway and looked at the two of them skeptically.

"Do they always fight?" Luna asked walking past the room.

"Always." Rabastan replied.

Antonin blasted a vase on the far side of the room, Rodolphus left down the hall calling her name.

* * *

" _Malyushka_ ," he said outside _his_ door for the third time, dinner was soon and he was sent to lure her out for Yaxley. How pathetic he must look trying to coax a teenage girl out of a bedroom. "Luna is here, it's almost time for dinner, Yaxley wants to apologize."

"It's rubbish!" Her voice was near the floor and he realized that she must be sitting "No one actually cares about muggles, or vampires, or werewolves, or house elves, or anything! You all are just helping me for weird stupid reasons, you just hate the Dark Lord, or you just want to impress a girl, or yo-"

" _Hermione_." He said exasperated "Isn't it enough that we _are_ helping?"

The door cracked open and he saw her near the ground, her whiskey eyes were bloodshot. "What's the point in doing something you don't believe in?"

He crouched down so that he was near her level. "We all have our reasons for choosing to betray our lord for you. It's not going to be the same as your reason, but it's been working so far, hasn't it? Yeah, Yaxley still hates Muggles, but he still helped your parents, didn't he?"

She sniffed and he pushed the door open a little wider so he could see all of her. "The world isn't only good and evil, Hermione. Don't be naive."

She hung her head, hiding her face in the mountain of hair, he tried to ignore the way her dress hung off her form as she was on all fours before him. "I...ame" She mumbled.

"What?"

"I like it when you say my name." She said, a little clearer now.

He heard the patter of tears on hardwood and got down to his knees, grabbing her underneath his arms and pulling her close to him. She was as light as a doll, her robes hung loose around her frame, and he saw the curse scar underneath the collar that only hit the base of her neck.

She laid her head down on his shoulder, as if she had done it a thousand times, and perhaps maybe she had. "I'm scared, I'm scared that you'll kill me one day. If you think _I_ should get what I deserve."

His hand froze, he had never thought she was scared of anything. She went up against vampires, and werewolves, taunted Bellatrix LeStrange and made ease of meeting with the most fearsome death eaters. "No, _pchelka_ , I will never kill you-"

"It's just, I know who you are, and yo-"

"Not you, _never_ you." His fingers tangled into her hair, he ignored the searing pain in his back as he held her closer, feeling her heartbeat against his, her hiccuping subsided and she lay still and silent for only a moment.

"Antonin-"

"I like it when you say my name, too." He cut her off, he didn't even know _why_ he said it, or why she even had to know. He felt like an idiot holding her in the hallway, but the way she relaxed against him, the way his touch made her hiccuping sobs subside, he'd be an idiot for a thousand years to come.

She came down to dinner trying to hide the fact that she had been crying, Yaxley stood up so quickly that he knocked the chair over.

"Hermione." He breathed "Please understand-"

"I do," she began to tear up all over again, turning away from the table. "I just hate it you know, maybe I was being an idealist when I thought I might have changed your mind. Ah-Antonin said that I should be happy you're helping me at all."

Yaxley looked terrified, his eyes darting to Antonin and then back to the girl who was hiding herself from the rest of the room, her back turned. If there was one thing that perplexed all the men in the room, it was a crying female.

"Everything counts in small amounts." Luna said dreamily.

Hermione nodded her head "Everything counts."

Yaxley was now a step behind her, Antonin noticed he too, wrung his hands like a house elf when he was nervous. " _Malyushka_ , the food is getting cold."

She turned away from him and looked up at Yaxley "Do you...do you hate me too? Am I-"

Yaxley took her hand, tugging her towards the kitchen table. "Come on, love, let's eat."

Yaxley said sorry the only way he knew how, he served her food and told her bad jokes, and when she smiled, he felt the whole room relax, and when she laughed, Yaxley looked up at him with relief. Antonin was relieved, because after all, her hand was in his the whole time underneath the table.

* * *

"We have to do it soon." She said finally one afternoon a few days later, looking nervously out in the hall. "That locket...it's oppressive, can't you feel it?"

"I think Rabastan is oppressive." Yaxley said, listening to the quartet change to a slower waltz "If I have to hear jingle bells one more time-"

"Christmas is in two days, let's just...do it now, and get it done with." She waved her hands wildly and Yaxley looked out the hallway too

"Fine. The Ministry is closed, it's not like we have anything better to do, let's just destroy them both in one go. Just us? Rodolphus too?" Yaxley asked, he was on edge too.

The feeling of the locket seemed to permeate the house, everyone was snappier than usual, everyone was on edge. Luna mentioned in passing that items in the house didn't belong, but the girl never made an ounce of sense.

"Yeah, we need to take it out somewhere where we can use fiendfyre." Hermione stood up, she looked regal today in her dark reds. Antonin rather liked the way she looked, even though she seemed distracted.

"Winty?" She tested, and the elf was before her "Find Master Rodolphus and tell him to meet us in the foyer."

* * *

Yaxley was helping her get her cloak on, Antonin paced the length of the foyer as they waited for Rodolphus to bring back both the items in question.

Fiendfyre, _fiendfyre_. The last time he cast it, it went out of control, his past came up and swallowed him whole. The screams never left him, everytime he saw fire, he could hear it as if it were yesterday. The house was burning, his brothers and sisters were burning. He felt a soft hand on his arm and Hermione looked up at him "Were you listening?"

"No." He said and looked to see that Rodolphus and Yaxley were staring at him too. "Was it important?"

"We're going to go to Liverpool, remember where we went for that fools errand? It's out of the way, and if there's any problems, we can pin it on The Order." Yaxley explained, searching his eyes for something more than confusion.

"Yaxley, we're not _pinning_ it on anyone. I t-"

"Fine, that's fine." Antonin grabbed her and pulled her close.

"Antonin!"

"The sooner this is done with the better we're all going to feel, _pchelka_." He pulled her closer, and before she could respond, apparated.

The wind whipped around him, and she stayed attached to him for a few moments as she found her footing. Her fingers wrung into the front of his robes, her nose buried into his chest. The docks were bustling with activity as snow coated the ground, catching in her hair. They were surrounded by large metal containers that stacked high above them on all sides, blocking out the sun.

"Okay," she said and looked up at him, her face was red, from the cold, he decided. "Okay let's go."

It smelled like fish and salt, every so often Hermione covered her face with her hands to warm up her face that was red with cold. They all followed Yaxley neatly, passing the cafe where he had questioned Yaxley's loyalties to the cause, and strolling down the docks where ships bobbed up and down on the rough winter waters. She would be blown into him every so often, a strong gust coming off the sea and pushing into her. Hermione stumbled, he caught her, and she would look up at him sheepishly.

When the dock ended, so did their walk, Yaxley stood in front of a large metal building with broken windows and rusted doors.

"This, I saw it last time."

Hermione stepped back and ran into someone, Rodolphus shooed him away. "What is this, exactly?" She asked "An old warehouse?"

"It's perfect, the Dark Lord would never suspect us in some old muggle neighborhood, the building is metal, and there's water everywhere if things get out of hand." Yaxley said waving off to the endless sea that was just on the other side of the building. "And it's empty, see _con-demned_. Keep Out." He read the yellow sign hanging on the rusted out door.

"Let's just _do it_." Rodolphus said beside her, holding the chest in front of him, his teeth clenched together. "Open the damn door, Yax."

Hermione was quicker, waving her hand and bursting the door open "No wands, nothing is tracked. Let's make it quick. I have a bad feeling about all this."

The warehouse seemed like it had gotten emptied in a hurry, trash was littered around the floor and a wind howled through the broken windows near the ceiling. Yaxley kicked an empty box out of the way and cast a lumos maxima, which was weaker than usual, giving the entire warehouse a yellowish glow.

He stopped in the middle, where it seemed like the floor slanted in towards a drain, but Antonin did not see one. Yaxley pointed at the floor "Here, and we'll destroy it."

There was a clatter as Rodolphus dropped it, his eyes wide, focused on some faraway terror. She grabbed onto him, her body tense as she turned around. "Rodolphus?" She asked and he did not move.

She moved towards him but Antonin held her back. Was Rodolphus cursed? Did the box curse him? They had decided Horcrux were sentient, but were they violent? "Destroy it now." Yaxley insisted.

"What if it hurts him?" Hermione said and looked up at him "What if...he's possessed by it or-"

" _Pchelka_ ," He warned and tugged her closer to him, her body was flush against his. "Listen to us for once, we're ol-"

" _Crucio_." Rodolphus' dulcet tones interrupted their bickering and Antonin yanked her aside as a jet of red light soared past them.

"Possessed!" Yaxley said moving away from them "Could you be wrong _once_?"

" _Crucio_!" A second jet, Antonin was quicker.

" _Stupefy_!" He called. The jet of red light died midair, colliding with his stunner.

"No wands! No wands!" She pulled away from him, her robes fluttering as she rushed towards Rodolphus. "Destroy it Antonin!"

Panic. _Panic_. He couldn't look away from her as she rushed towards a man who was firing curse after curse, green and red lights went off around her as she dodged them all, slipping and falling on her own damn robes, missing a killing curse by mere inches. She jumped on top of Rodolphus and in one clean motion threw his wand across the room as they both fell to the floor in a heap of fabric.

"Now, dammit!" She cried.

He hated her! How dare she order him around when he was just concerned for her! Fiendfyre was quicker this time, erupting from the end of his wand in a rage, burning up the edges of the box they had used to transport the two horcrux, and as soon as it was engulfed in the flames it went out, smoke rising up from the blackened box in the strangely lit room. He could see Yaxley on the other side, his wand drawn as he watched the scene with confusion.

It happened so quickly he couldn't remember what had started it. A flash of white light and the room seemed to catch on fire. His vision was white. Her screams, all he could hear was her screams, like she was being burnt alive, they echoed off the walls, bounced around his skull and he groped around in the heat for some scrap of her. There was no way to tell where the screaming was coming from, it sounded like it was everywhere. "Antonin!" She cried, and her voice cut his heart in half, his chest was tight and he could hear the blood pounding in his ears "Antonin, please!"

He couldn't see her, he couldn't _feel_ her, just the fire. It came up and consumed him whole. Let it burn, let him die. He said he would never kill her and now she was burning alive. She died the way his sister did, she died like the rest of the Dolohov's. He closed his eyes, his skin was searing hot. Was he sweating? He could feel the wetness trailing down his face. The screaming got louder, it became deafening. His mother told him that she could never forget the screams. He would never.

"Antonin, wake up, _fuck_." She screamed and then a pressure on his forehead "Please, I can't carry you."

There was smoke everywhere, the room was on fire, but she was cradling his head in her hands, curled over him and crying, her face smudged with ash. "I can't find Yaxley, the police are here."

He could hear it better now, the sirens were wailing just on the other side of the wall, she was gasping for air, Rodolphus laid out beside her, unconscious. "You're not dead?"

She was crying and shook her head. "The...fire...I saw so many things in the fire, and I can't find Y-"

There was a crash somewhere in the room and she sat upright. "Yaxley?" She cried and hugged the unconscious body of Rodolphus tighter. "Ya-"

"If there's anyone inside, please shout your location!" A voice shouted from their right.

"We have to find Yaxley." She coughed and pulled her robes over her face, yanking on his so he would do the same.

" _Augimenti_." She said and there was a hiss as water abated the flames around them. She tried to stand up but with Rodolphus still unconscious, she could only get to her knees while holding him.

Her eyes reflected the fire when she looked back at him, "Can you stay with Rodolphus? I can move, I can do this. You've done enough."

" _Hermione_ ," he pleaded, he couldn't lose her again "Stay."

She was gone, and it started raining inside the building.

"If anyone is conscious inside, yell for us!"

He pulled Rodolphus near him, casting a bubblehead charm over himself and then over his unconscious friend, scanning the rest of the warehouse for signs of life. He saw what she had called the _firemen_ with flashlights, scanning the area, and useless to do anything but watch, cast a notice-me-not charm on them both.

"You two!" A voice called and Antonin stood up, letting Rodolphus slump onto the floor.

He could see her wild hair over the flames, she was confronting Yaxley who had his wand out in front of them. He was groping for her, his eyes on the firemen, missing her completely. She grabbed onto his arm, but he fired off a curse, a bright jet of white light.

Hermione scanned the room until she found Antonin. He couldn't hear what she was saying over the shouts of the firemen and the popping of the fire. She was tugging on Yaxley, her mouth was forming one word over and over again. The familiar pop of her lips as she said _p_ , she began to exaggerate and wave at him.

There was a loud noise overhead that drowned everything else out, it sounded like someone was hitting the roof with a broom over and over again, a _thwap-thwap_ that was relentless, wind picked up and so did the fire, and she was gone behind the flames again.

Another _augimenti_ doused the flames and he could see her again. She was lit up like the christmas tree at home, flashlights pointing at her, Yaxley was shouting, but he could hear nothing. He thought about leaving Rodolphus, but found that he would not. He was torn between going towards her and keeping his friend safe.

Finally she was waving dramatically, pushing Yaxley backwards behind her turning towards the three firemen and _flash_. The whole room was doused in white.

"Antonin, _APPARATE_." She was hanging onto him, her fingernails digging into his skin.

He obliged, holding Rodolphus tighter. The fire blurred into a blinding light, and they apparated again.

She threw up on his shoes when they landed, doubled over, coughing and retching before falling over in the lawn, Yaxley looked dazed when they landed in front of LeStrange Manor, his hands shaking.

He tossed Rodolphus next to the girl and fell down beside her, adrenaline running out, leaving him with a painful exhaustion as he grabbed her robes. _Shit_.


	18. Holidays & Hallucinations

Luna was washing her in her bed with a wet washcloth, her coughs were loud and frequent as she curled into a ball on the bed next to Rodolphus. Luna begged for her to go to her own room, but Hermione, if she did speak, only wailed that she had killed Rodolphus and she couldn't move.

Rodolphus, on the other hand, was merely unconscious, breathing easily beside her, but she could not be swayed. Her voice, the desperation echoed in his head _The fire_ _I saw so many things in the fire_. Just what had _she_ seen?

Yaxley was gone, he didn't want to look at her, he said, and fled the room as if a dementor was behind him. They all waited for Severus now, it was twelve minutes to Christmas. At ten minutes to Christmas, the fire roared to life and made his heart stop, the Potion's Master of Hogwarts looked at the two on the bed, and then at Luna before turning his gaze to Antonin.

"W-"

"I killed him Professor, oh gods, I've killed another person!" She wailed, punctuating her sentence with terrible shuddering coughs.

"Hermione." His entire form seemed to soften, his shoulders relaxing, his cloak sliding off "Rodolphus is merely unconscious, Rabastan said you stupefied him."

"I killed him, I saw it happen!" She was hugging Rodolphus' arm so tightly Antonin was sure he was going to bruise "I killed him, I'm turning into her, I'm turning into Bellatrix!"

The Professor gave Antonin an accusing look, and _scourgified_ the girl on the bed. "Leave, _all of you_." He said pointedly, looking at Luna, waving them all off.

Antonin had enough, he got up and went to find Yaxley, he could hear her cries all the way down the hallway. The portraits asked for her, asked after her health, asked if Master Rodolphus was _truly_ gone, but he answered none, instead focusing on one boot in front of the other. Going away from her was painful, but there was nothing he could do to convince her when he himself was not much convinced.

Yaxley was halfway through a bottle in the living room, still covered in ash from the fire that had smudged with his sweat he stared at the dead fireplace. The glow of the Christmas Tree that Rabastan had carefully decorated made Yaxley look otherworldly.

"I almost got her killed tonight, I almost got us all killed, I hesitated. The police again, I can't _do_ police." Yaxley said, not bothering to look at Antonin who had sat down near him, summoning the bottle from his hands. To drink, to prevent Yaxley from drinking. "I could see it in the fire you know, I watched them kill me Da' and I watched them kill you too, and her, merlin her face when she dies, she looked so…" He shook her head "Glasgow all over again."

"I'll never get the screams out of my head." Antonin agreed, pouring himself a glass.

"You know," Yaxley looked at him, raising an empty glass in a depressing cheers "Glasgow wasn't a terrible place until the muggles came, and then they built these cramped mouse holes for people, and then the air went bad, and then the water went bad, and then the _people_ went bad. Fuck me."

Antonin looked over at his friend who now had clean smudges of his fingers as he went back through his hair "It's always how it starts." He agreed.

"You know how me parents died?" Yaxley asked, his voice breaking.

Antonin nodded, knowing that even if he did agree, Yaxley would tell him anyways.

"We were getting milk you know? Mashed potatoes aren't good without milk. The muggle police, fuck them, they're the worst of them all, they said we looked like the _wrong_ sort. Me Da' never looked like the wrong sort, he bought only the finest muggle clothes, he _liked_ those muggles, said they had it all worked out. Told me Ma' that they kept milk for weeks in ice boxes without magic. What a feat, me ma' said. Shop owner reported them for being suspicious, said that they stole the milk, collected a reward for giving the police information, and they beat them to death, said they were wanted, said that no one would miss a few rats who stole milk. Muggles will sell out anyone for a dollar, the muggle police will turn into murderers for desperate men. They were gonna kill us tonight too."

"I know, Yax, I know."

"Do you think Da' would have liked 'ermione?" His words were slurred, his Scottish accent made everything run together.

"You're drunk, Yax."

"Don't I know it, Tonin?" He shouted and dropped the glass.

Antonin lazily _reparo'd_ the glass. "Yeah, yeah, you're a mess, we both are."

"I thought if I became hea' of the Dee-Em-Ell-Ee then I could go get those muggle police, I'd finally get 'em good, but all I get is nothin' I can't even look at them. I get all...twitchy, I gotta kill them before they kill me."

"She said those were _firemen_. Not police." Antonin said sipping on his firewhiskey "I think she was trying to tell you that too."

"Is she okay?" Yaxley asked, his eyes wide and staring up through the ceiling as if he could see her.

"No, she thinks that Rodolphus is dead, she said she saw things in the fire."

"We all did." Yaxley said "We all saw somethin' in the fire, and it's burnin' us from the inside out."

* * *

Antonin knocked lightly on the door to Rodolphus' room at around eleven on Christmas Day, the quartet playing quietly in another part of the house.

Winty opened the door quietly, her large eyes looking up at him balefully "Master is up but Mistress is sleeping."

"Come in, Antonin." Rodolphus' voice was clear.

The room was streaming with late morning sunlight, a small fire was in the hearth, a pile of presents at the bed, and a small tree decorated with worn decorations that looked to be older than even the manor itself. Even when he shut the door he could still hear the quartet playing muggle hymns, Hermione's choice. The house wanted to comfort her, they all did.

She was curled up under blankets, her fingers still wrapped almost desperately around Rodolphus' arm, his head was bandaged, but he was propped up against a mountain of pillows and reading over a letter. Severus was fast asleep in a chair, sprawled out like a drunken man, his feet disappearing underneath the bed, his head lulled to one side.

"Merry Christmas, then." Rodolphus smiled, folding the letter and handing it to Winty who disapparated quietly. "She got to sleep late last night, so she might not be up until the potions wear off."

"She is...better?" Antonin looked at her, longed to touch her, but instead opted to sit on a chair near the door.

"She was a bit hysterical, but calmed down once I woke up." Rodolphus brushed some hair away from her face, she burrowed deeper into his side "I tried to kill her, and then she claimed she had killed me?"

"When we destroyed the horcrux, there was a moment...I don't know what she saw exactly, I know what Yax saw, I know what I saw, and it was death, it was all my fears played out like they were real. I can't stop thinking about them, you know?" Antonin sighed and tore his eyes from her.

"She tackled me. Crude girl, said one of my curses singed her hair." Rodolphus opened up another letter with one hand "I've never had someone cry for me like that before. She really thought I was dead?"

"For a minute I thought _she_ was dead." Antonin batted his hand like it would clear the bad thoughts away. "They're destroyed."

"And so was a happy Christmas." Rodolphus looked down at her affectionately "I hope Rab is getting on."

"Of course he is." Antonin said.

Another knock on the door startled Severus into action, his wand gripped in his hand as he lurched forward, before relaxing when he saw Yaxley peeking in.

"Merry Christmas, loves." Yaxley said, wearing red silk pajamas and carrying three or four boxes. He lowered his voice once he saw that Hermione was still asleep "Ah, I see."

He placed the neatly wrapped white boxes on top of the growing pile at the foot of the bed. Severus gave him a disapproving look but said nothing. "Where's breakfast then?"

"She'll be out of it for another few hours or so, she didn't take dreamless sleep until around three." Severus said, straightening his shirt "By all means, order breakfast."

She woke up to teatime conversation after breakfast, her eyes roamed around the room, taking in everyone as if it was the first time she had seen them, her hair was wild, shorter in some places than others.

Yaxley raised his teacup next to him, but Antonin got there first, he wanted to tell her first. He wanted to say it in his mother tongue. " _Schastlivogo Rozhdestva, pchelka._ "

She began to cry, a smile on her face. "Merry Christmas, Antonin."

* * *

"No." She said flatly looking down into the white box. "I won't even take it out of the box!"

"The sales woman...well she might be a bit off due to all the oblivates, but she said _this_ is what young girls wear!" Yaxley pointed with the hand that was holding his glass of firewhiskey. She was sharing a bed with Luna, opening her presents propped up against the same pillows Rodolphus had used.

"This is what dirty old men want to see, Yaxley!" She cried and tried to put the lid back on it but Luna had already hooked a finger around it and pulled it out, two scraps of lacy red fabric, tied together with what seemed to be a thread.

Hermione blushed scarlet and shoved it back into the box, giving Yaxley a glare "and what do you _mean_ obliviates?"

"Here," Rodolphus said, sensing another spat between the witch and the wizard, he picked up a rather large box from the bottom of the pile. "Here, this is from me."

Her voice softened as she delicately took the box "Rodolphus, you didn't-"

"And this is for Luna."

She was careful with the wrapping paper, unlike Luna who tore through hers, she held up the fabric of new dress robes, a deep black that matched her blue set completely. "I won't lie to you this time, this is spun from arcomantula silk. The seamstress is also good with charms, and so there are a few built in, not many, but...the obvious ones."

"A fortune, this must have cost a fortune." She breathed, her hands running down the fabric. "But I value your honesty more."

"It's useless lying to you, you always seem to find out." Rodolphus waved her off "For next time we follow Yaxley's plan to destroy horcrux, wear this instead."

"They're destroyed, right?" Yaxley defended himself.

She got off the bed, a pile of wrapping papers moving onto the floor, Winty picking them up in great distress and hugged Rodolphus. He looked alarmed, but eventually hugged her back.

* * *

"Here," he said later that night when she crawled into bed next to him. He thrust a small box into her hands.

He had thought about giving her presents with the rest of them, but wanted her reaction privately. He wanted everything about her private now, but so many people vied for her attention.

"My wand." She said, before even opening it "My wand."

Inside the white box, laying on white tissue paper was her wand, registered now to a witch who didn't exist, tracked to a file that was burnt after it was placed neatly away. Wrapped around the wood was a silver chain, his grandmother's, the last of the Dolohov's treasury, and at the bottom, near the thickest part of the wood, was a ring. He didn't think he'd have anyone to give it to, so he gave it to her. Fire roiled around inside the gem, and it glowed when her fingers touched the metal.

"Antonin." She said looking up at him, confused, in awe "Antonin, wh-"

"It's yours, all of it." The words were thick in his throat. He didn't know what he was even trying to say to her now. Her screams were still fresh in his mind. He closed his eyes trying to rid the thoughts, Christmas was supposed to be a happy time.

Warm and soft, her lips were against his, it was brief, like a taste of heaven, because as soon as he had realized what was happening, as soon as he could kiss her back, she was gone, her face buried in her hands.

"Sorry, that was weird." She said muffled "I just wanted to-"

He had never tasted something so innocent, so sweet and unrefined. He grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from her flushed face. He wanted to _see_ her. Her eyes were wide and fearful, her face flushed red.

He kissed her again. He wondered if she could tell how desperate he was for her affection. His lips pressed hard against hers, drawing in her warmth, her fire. He darted her tongue out to sweep against her soft lips, tasting the remnants of her sugary tea. She was always so sweet, always his. When she let out a small sigh, it felt like a lightning bolt had struck him, arousal seared through his body and he knew his control was waning. Not her, not her, she was still so innocent, _not her_.

He let go of her as if burnt, his hands twinged with adrenaline, she was breathing heavily, her face flushed.

"Antonin." She breathed, his name was a prayer.

He liked the way her lips were swollen and wet from kisses, he liked the way her eyes looked half lidded. He wondered if that was how she looked beneath him. Antonin closed his eyes. Not her, not now.

"Should I...should I leave?" She sounded nervous.

"No. Don't leave. You...sometimes you are too much for an old man like me."

She laughed and buried herself under the covers. She _was_ too much. He recited runes in his head, his arousal that was painfully pressing against his trousers relaxed and so did he.

"Antonin," she asked in the darkness, her voice was a siren. "I like kissing, I've decided."

It was her first kiss? He swore up and down in Russian. She was so young, and so innocent.

" _Pchelka_."

Her fingers laced with his. He began reciting the rune alphabet in his head.

"Merry Christmas."


	19. Choices & Close Calls

She yelped when he displaced her later that night, rolling her almost clean off the bed when he sat up. His arm burned painfully. He was being summoned. He grabbed for his wand, but she was faster.

" _Malyushka_ , I don't need-"

"Wait, let me do this, please, don't ask." She began to cast spells, one after another, simple spells, _accio_ 's, featherweight charms, sticking charms, she had half of the room on the bed with her and she began to change the colors of the sheets, a minute passed, and then two, the burning in his arm began to intensify. She lit the fire, doused it, and lit it again, casting almost thirty charms before handing it back to him.

He didn't understand many things she did. It was four in the morning, so he decided not to ask. He snatched the wand from her hand and gave her a look of confusion before disapparating from bed.

Yaxley was waiting anxiously in the foyer of Malfoy Manor, Rabastan and Rodolphus were leaning against a table, and Lucius Malfoy was pacing the length of the room. "Late." Yaxley murmured "Late."

Antonin yawned and waved him off dismissively "Our Lord requests an audience."

All the Death Eaters wore pajamas under their death eater robes, Lucius wore striped pajamas that could be seen with every swish of his robe, Yaxley was still in obnoxiously bright reds, and both the LeStrange wore a garish green.

"I have received _distressssing_ news from Scrimgeour." Their lord waved to the table, Severus and Narcissa were both seated already.

"My lord?" Lucius said, sitting next to his wife "Surely the holi-"

"A witch and a wizard were seen setting fire in Liverpool, somewhere I had sent two of you to find an Order member months prior." His bony fingers were drumming on the table, his eyes focused on Yaxley and Antonin who were at the far end " _Fiendfyre_ , according to Scrimgeour's men who came to contain the blaze."

"So, why did The Order destroy this place?" Rodolphus asked, steering the conversation "Was it a strategic muggle point?"

"Explain _Yaxley_ , _Dolohov_...this news." The anger radiated off their lord and Antonin knew he wasn't going to get out of this one unscathed. "Scrimgeour, come forth."

Scrimgeour was the only one out of the group dressed in finery, a pinstriped suit, his hair combed neatly. He had been here for hours at least, Pettigrew was attached to his leg. Antonin sneered. This man was bad news if Pettigrew loved him.

He held up a paper that was like the Prophet but did not move "Liverpool PD are looking for an arsonist seen at Collingwood Docks, white hair, thin build, one point eight meters tall, over fifty years old. Believed to be working with an unknown female." Scrimgeour looked up at the table of men, and Narcissa, his smile revealing his yellowing teeth.

"Stand up Yaxley." The Dark Lord said " _Accio_."

Yaxley's wand flew from his pocket and into the Dark Lord's hand " _Priori Incantem_." Spells began to play backwards, lights erupting from the wand, random objects summoning towards the table but dropping before they had gotten close. After a few minutes and no fiendfyre the Dark Lord frowned and tossed the wand across the table, Antonin felt his wand wriggle out of his pocket and flew into the Dark Lord's hand. His whole body went tense but instead he looked away at Severus who was watching him with interest.

The Priori Incantem was much the same, tedious spells, accios, color changing spells, augimentis, and finally when it reached a bubblehead charm, the Dark Lord dispelled it and tossed it on the table as well before summoning Narcissa's.

The Dark Lord was livid. "No one in this room has cast a fiendfyre, but one of my _most trusted_ was placed at the scene of the crime."

"If I may, my Lord," Lucius had a bored drawl "How did the muggles come to get this description?"

Silence fell over the table as the blame was passed away from Yaxley and Antonin. The Dark Lord's red eyes slid sideways to where Scrimgeour and Pettigrew were standing. He was tapping his fingers impatiently on the table before addressing the Minister of Magic.

"Explain."

"My lord, there is nothing _to_ explain, the muggles saw a man who looked like Corban Yaxley setting fire to docks where you had sent him and Antonin Dolohov not six months ago!" His hands were shaking with fury even as they held the paper "The muggles wrote this I-"

"Wanted someone to take the blame when you botched another go at the muggle prime minister?" Yaxley said and laughed "Wasn't me taking a muggle crucio enough for you? You'd lie to our lord as well?"

"A muggle crucio?" Scrimgeour looked perplexed "Wh-"

"The muggles can do magic?" Narcissa said, sounding alarmed "When...have the mudbloods been teaching them to do spells? How-"

"They shot two little needles in me and crucio'd me." Yaxley continued to Narcissa "They'll did it to me, they'll do it to every wizard they can catch."

Lucius looked aghast "The muggles _must_ be stopped, how much longer can we wai-"

"Quiet! All of you." The Dark Lord roared and the room fell silent. "Rufus, you came to me with definitive proof that I have a traitor at this table, and yet there is none beyond this... _newspaper_. Is there so-"

"The records, the wand records have been tampered with!" Rufus reached, eying Yaxley "I have it on good word-"

"Your word is no longer good here Rufusss, Yaxley has served me since the first war. Why should I take your word above his?"

"I have pro-"

" _Crucio_."

The screams hurt his ears at near dawn. The twitchy form of Rufus Scrimgeour glared up at the table of the inner circle as sunlight began to filter in through the room. When he finally was rendered unconscious, the Dark Lord waved for Pettigrew to take the body out in the hall. Whether Scrimgeour lived or not was beyond Antonin to care.

"There is no politics within my ranks, I reward loyalty, and punish those who seek to _climb_ to the top through...deception. Yaxley, Dolohov, go to Liverpool _now_ and find and kill the Order members that are stationed there. If I do not have bodies by sunset, it will be your bodies dragged out by Pettigrew. Fail me again, and you will not see the new year."

* * *

"Seamus Finnigan." Yaxley said staring down at the yearbook photo "He's Hermione's age, isn't he?"

"Same house, Gryffindor." Antonin scratched his stubble and looked down at the picture on the table between them at the cafe. "She's gonna kill us if she finds out. We'd be dead if she hadn't thought to do all those spells this morning."

"You boys back?" A waitress asked refilling their coffees "Haven't seen you in a tick."

Antonin gave her a glare but she already had her back turned. "You guys some sorta detectives or something? Strange things keep happenin' around here."

"That obvious, eh?" Yaxley said and kicked back "We're here looking for a pyromaniac, some boy named Finnigan."

"Yeah, we all know about him. That Finnigan boy has been a bit of a weird one, his parents sent him to some private school, yeah?" The waitress' eyes were drawn to the twenty pound note Yaxley held between two fingers "You think he has something to do with the fire?"

"Positive." Yaxley smiled before pulling out a second twenty pounds and adding it to the first. "Got an address for us, love?"

"What made us look like detectives _this_ time?" Antonin asked as they stepped out of the diner with a napkin with the Finnigan boy's address on it.

"Muggles will sell anyone out for a quick buck." Yaxley said knowingly "Maybe it's the fact that neither of us have slept in the past day or so?"

Antonin was dragging his feet he knew he was, guilt settled heavily in the pit of his stomach. Yaxley looked at him critically, Antonin looked away. "I don't want to kill the boy, Yax."

Yaxley gave a long suffering sigh. "Well, let's see what she wants to do with them then, yeah?"

* * *

" _Malyushka_ ," Antonin knocked nervously on her door, it was still early, she was still asleep "We are in need-"

The door opened and a sleepy, tousled Hermione answered, behind her was Luna who was putting on her robes. "Antonin?"

"Come to the drawing room." He said, looking away from her, desire surging through him as she tightened her new burgundy robes around herself. "We have a problem."

"A problem?" She groped for his hand and found it easily "Antonin, what time is it?"

He tugged her along, and Luna followed silently behind the two of them, observing the portraits that were following the trio. The clock read half past eight, Antonin was tired, he was on edge, Yaxley's nerves were grating on him. She stumbled down the stairs behind him and he tried to adjust her pace.

"What is it?" She yawned as they hit the first floor "I was up late with L-Antonin are these _hostages_?"

Neatly bound and lined up in a row, four men and one woman were kneeling. Yaxley kept walking up and down the row in some kind of strange patrol, only the woman was conscious, tears rolling down her face, the silencing charm rendering their screams useless.

"Good Evening Missus Finnigan," Luna said beside her. "You look well."

Hermione's fingers left him and she glared at him "Missus Finnigan? And this?" She pointed to the teenage boy "I assume is Seamus Finnigan?"

"We are in a bit of a pickle, love." Yaxley wrung his hands behind the row of hostages "We need some bodies, we need _some_ -"

"Alright." She said "And _why_ does this pickle involve hostages in my drawing room?"

"Well, you see...we were seen, and if we don't produce some evidence that The Order was in Liverpool for that little fire we started, then-"

"Then we will be killed tonight for our failures." Antonin finished and pushed her forward into the drawing room.

"So you came here with a bunch of _bodies_ and decide which ones you take." She was shrill, her hands wringing together much like Yaxley but she began to pace.

"Well, I wanted that." Antonin said beside her "Yaxley did not."

"Yaxley is smart to not get me involved." She snapped. "How am I supposed to value one life over another? Who are these two?"

"Some muggles we found." Antonin was starting to realize he had made a very big mistake bringing people here. "We tho-"

"You thought!" Yaxley interjected "I just wanted to kill these Finnigans and be done with it! You didn't want to kill the boy, you wanted to impress the girl!" His voice was raw from yelling, he was hoarse, he was desperate.

"Winty," She said quietly beside him "Please fetch us some tea."

The house elf disappeared and she spelled each hostage asleep, one after another, unbinding them and laying them out on the floor before approaching Yaxley who was a mess. "Yaxley, let's talk about this, yeah?"

"We're gonna die love, he was one more second from figuring it all out, he had Antonin's wand, he had _my_ wand, Scrimgouer knew we meddled with the wand registrations last week." Yaxley ripped his arm from her "We aren't getting _anywhere_ , yeah? He's no weaker, we're no closer to free-"

"Yaxley." She said quieter and he paused to look at her, his eyes darting from the petite witch to Antonin who was still standing in the doorway. "When does the Dark Lord want them?" She gestured to the hostages sleeping peacefully on the rug.

"Sunset." Antonin said from behind her.

"Sunset, and it's not even nine, let's have some tea, yeah? Calm down a bit, yeah?" She sounded a bit nervous herself, but she rubbed his arm soothingly, giving him a bright smile.

Yaxley was resigned. He looked like a dead man walking, but she kept pace with him and dragged him into the kitchen with her. He felt the same fear that overtook Yaxley, he was sure when Yaxley had been asked to stand in front of their lord that he was dead, but instead he lived thanks to a careful word from Lucius Malfoy.

When Antonin carefully recounted this to her, he noticed that her hands shook as she held the steaming teacup. "I see," she said quietly, her words didn't carry over the clinking of china. "I see."

"So we just dump the bodies and be done, forget about it, forget about _all_ of this, love." Yaxley grabbed her hand and squeezed it "Live a normal life, just us."

"Well, he said _bodies_ , but nothing about whether they were living or dead." Luna said pouring a copious amount of sugar into her tea "Why do we need to kill them, again?"

Hermione's eyes lit up and she grabbed her friend's hand. "Yes, Luna, brilliant."

"What's brilliant about that?" Antonin asked, his attention split between Yaxley who was pouring firewhiskey into his morning tea, and Hermione who was smiling at her friend.

"We need Professor Snape." She said finally, and summoned Drolly for a quill and some ink, sending an owl immediately.

A few minutes of silence reigned, broken by the sipping of tea, the clinking of china, the wind blowing against the windows, and her breathing. Finally there was a woosh of the floo and "What the _hell_?" of Severus Snape coming in through the drawing room.

"In here, in here." Hermione said as if this was all normal procedure. "Don't mind the bodies."

He was dusting off his black jacket, flecks of grey ash on his shoulder where he must have fallen back in shock from the state of the drawing room. Hermione looked up at him expectantly. "We need a rescue mission."

"They're not in any danger, they're dead in your drawing room." Severus said "Good morning, Miss Lovegood"

"Sleeping! Not dead, sleeping." Yaxley corrected "They would be dead if Antonin could _think_ straight."

"So those are the supposed Order members from Liverpool?"

"Seamus Finnigan." Hermione said, setting her teacup down. "and his parents, and some muggles in case I wanted to kill one family and not another."

"Good Morning, Professor Snape." Luna said at last "You have...oh, well you have some nargles floating around you today."

"I see a kitchen full of nargles." Severus bit out surveying the lot. "So, do you want me to haul them off and arrange for some funerals for Yaxley and Dolohov instead?"

"No, but couldn't we make them...appear dead for a bit? And then-"

"Not _everyone_ can play dead, Miss Granger." Severus bit out ignoring the house elf who had pulled out a chair for him. "This is one of those situations where you _must_ decide the value of a life in war. Who is more valuable? The Finnigans, or Dolohov and Yaxley?"

"No life is worth more than another life, Professor." She was fidgeting in her seat "We have the opportunity to save them, let's take it."

"Yaxley and Dolohov were supposed to bring the Finnigan's to the Dark Lord this past summer and failed, if they do not bring a Finnigan back this time, then they will be killed. The Finnigan's have been known for helping muggleborns escape in both the last war and this one. They are to be made an example of." He sat down finally "They are a sacrifice for the greater good."

She bit her lip and looked over at Antonin. "Is that true?"

"Our lord has become less forgiving of failures, that is true." Antonin replied softly. He didn't want to deny her.

"If they are Order members, then why wouldn't the Order try to rescue them?" Luna asked and then suddenly was distracted by a sleepy Rabastan who had entered the kitchen. "Good morning."

"There are only two options, Hermione." Severus said, his voice low "You spare the Finnigan's and send the muggles, getting Dolohov and Yaxley tortured, or you spare the muggles and Dolohov and Yaxley are spared as well."

Her eyes shone with tears now. "This is not my only options! There has to be-"

"What in the... _Hermione!_ " Rodolphus was up now, the last of the house. "There are-"

"In here, Rodolphus!" She cried and wiped her tears away furiously with the back of her hand. "How am I supposed to be better than Dumbledore and the Dark Lord if I send innocent people off to their deaths?"

"When did you say you were going to be any better?" Yaxley interjected "You just wanted to help people who weren't getting any help from either. You saved all the werewolves, and the centaurs too, and us!"

"War is about sacrifice, Hermione, it's time to make one." Severus said very gravely next to Antonin.

She stood up, banging her chair against the table causing the china to rattle. "You, Severus Snape, _you_ were going to be a sacrifice of war, but I would _never_ give up on you. Now, these people, these three people who have not harmed another, I should send them to their deaths because they're inconsequential, because I love Antoinin and Yaxley more than I do them?"

"May I suggest, my little spitfire, that we sit down and discuss this rationally?" Rodolphus said, righting the chair that she had knocked over in her fury. "If these people aren't supposed to die, then we will find a way."

She jumped when his hand clasped around her shoulder, whirling around to look at him, her eyes softened slightly. "Rodolphus."

He wanted her to look at him the same way she looked at Rodolphus, the ease that the older LeStrange brother somehow gave her was something he wanted to be able to do. She sat back down and stared hard at her empty teacup.

"From the shouting in here, I am to understand these are the bodies you wish to present to the Dark Lord?" Rodolphus sat down next to his brother who was currently shoving a croissant whole into his mouth.

"Dolph, you understand, right?" Yaxley pleaded.

He pursed his lips and picked a croissant out of the basket in the middle of the table, studying it before looking up at Hermione. "If there were a Ministry raid on Lucius' Malfoy's home…"

"And Order Aurors were in charge of this hypothetical raid?" Severus added, raising an eyebrow.

"And Scrimgeour somehow...signed off on this…" Rodolphus buttered his croissant and handed half to Hermione "Then-"

"We have to imperio Scrimgeour at the Ministry _now_." Antonin said "To get him to sign the papers, and then obliviate him, to make him conveniently forget."

"We need to tell the Malfoy's." Hermione interjected "They should be prepared."

"This is a lot of trouble for a bunch of nobodies." Yaxley sighed "But if we can get Scrimgeour killed, then I'm in."

"You were never _not_ in Yaxley." Hermione huffed and stood up "and they're not nobodies, they're real people, with lives, just like ours."

"And what about our lives?" Yaxley snapped "You're going to get us killed making us save everyone else!"

"Enough, Yaxley." Antonin said, irritated now "We're both in the same boat, there's no use taking it out on her."

He looked cowed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Sorry, love, we're just cutting it close here."

She sighed and left the table, her arms crossed. There was silence at the table.

"Luna," Rabastan said after a few moments "Are we still going snorkack hunting today? The weather-"

"Not now, Rabastan."


	20. The Master of Death

Her fingers were warm in his hand as she trailed behind himself and Yaxley, spelled invisible and inaudible, the Ministry was dead in the lull between Christmas and New Year. Their shoes echoed off the cavernous walls of the foyer. Alone. Yaxley greeted the check-in witch who eyed him warily before letting him pass with his guest, not bothering to write anything in other than the puzzle she was working on. All three of them got into the lift, the metal doors clattering shut behind them. The yank of the lift upward made her stumble but he only held her hand tighter. Together.

"This better work, this better work." Yaxley was fidgeting with his wand, twirling it between his fingers as he looked upwards, as if he could see the Minister's office from here.

It was late afternoon when the arrived at the seventh floor, the windows from empty offices had sunlight streaming in across the floors, highlighting the shimmer of an invisible Hermione as they passed. He would look back every so often, expecting her unruly hair, her whiskey eyes, her pouty pink lips, but instead saw the empty hallway stretch out behind them. She seemed to know he was looking for her, because when he turned back, she would squeeze his hand reassuringly.

"We're here to see the minister." Yaxley said matter of factly to the secretary that was flipping through Witch Weekly. His lowered his voice. "It's of immediate importance."

"Oh, it's you Yaxley," sighed the secretary, lazily looking him over before pointing her thumb to the door behind her "He's free up since it's the holidays, go on in."

"Thanks, love." He winked at her. The secretary rolled her eyes and went back to her magazine.

Hermione's hand slipped from his, and the secretary's eyes went blank before she slumped over onto Witch Weekly. "Quickly now," Hermione whispered "It won't last forever."

Yaxley took that as a sign, already on edge, he opened the door and shot a stunner to the seated Minister of Magic who was upright in his chair now, staring blankly past the three of them, his wand gripped tightly in his hand.

"Merlin, I hate you." Yaxley said and tugged on Scrimgeour's wand until it finally slipped from the stunned man's grasp "You're such a shit."

He looked back at Antonin and gestured to the stunned man "Ready?"

Antonin nodded, exhaling before muttering " _Imperio_."

"Yaxley," Hermione's voice was insistent " _Leave_. Slam the door."

Yaxley gave Antonin a look of disbelief as he slammed the door, leaving them alone with a silent, glassy eyed Minister.

He came in again and put a piece of parchment down on the desk before loudly announcing "This just came from Auror Shacklebolt. It's approval to raid Malfoy Manor, I told him you wouldn't sign off on it, but you know Kingsley, better to humor him, eh?

Antonin closed his eyes "Sign it sign it sign it." He thought over and over again.

There was a scratch of quill on parchment before Yaxley made a choking noise "You're sure then?"

"I'm the _fucking_ Minister of Magic, of course I'm sure. Get out." There was a scuffle and then the door slammed again.

" _Obliviate."_ Hermione said clearly next to him and then she pushed on him to leave, she had to be the last person in the room to make it believable, and she did.

* * *

She kissed him on the cheek before he left to make his report to the Dark Lord, somehow it felt more intimate than the kiss from the night before.

"Be safe." She murmured against his skin.

He was on pins and needles while the Finnegan family lay near his feet, the Dark Lord looking at the two of them with something akin to amusement but Antonin knew better to think that any emotion coming from his lord was positive.

"I see the second time was more _fruitful_?" He drawled.

The dark lord was sitting on a old wooden chair with an alarming amount of silver filigree, a makeshift throne in an empty ballroom. Their words echoed in the darkness, candles lit only a small area of the room around their lord. Antonin never realized how depressing the whole thing seemed. Bellatrix was gone and the sense of extravagance she instilled on all of them about the Dark Lord was gone with her. The silence was suffocating.

"A waitress remembered us, and trusted us with the Finnigan's address, since the fire the muggles have turned on them." Yaxley explained "It was crucial to come back a second time, and you were wise, my lord, to send us."

"Master Lucius!" A house elf popped into existence, startling them all, except for the Dark Lord whose eyes slid to the small creature, his hand twitching on the arm rest, Antonin was surprised the creature was still breathing "Master Lucius, I am being sorry, there is a problem."

"Speak!" Lucius said, clearly agitated, his hand went for his cane.

"A Misters Shacklebolt is cur-"

A thunderous boom and chandeliers that Antonin could not see rattled overhead, cutting the elf off.

"Ministry Aurors? Here?" Lucius looked at Yaxley with an eyebrow raised.

"You _fools_ ," The Dark Lord hissed, standing up from his throne "The Order is here to rescue these _useless_ muggle lovers!"

Pettigrew made a noise somewhere between a squeak and a scream. Antonin caught sight of him fleeing into the darkness of the hall, and then, surprisingly with a crack, the Dark Lord fled also, leaving Lucius, Antonin, Yaxley, and Narcissa alone in the ballroom. A curse whizzed past Antonin's ear and he gave Lucius a look of disbelief.

Yaxley fired the first curse back, a bright red _Crucio_ , it missed, but the wall was taken out instead. "Antonin Dolohov!" A woman's voice "You are under arrest for the kidnapping and murder of Hermione Granger!"

"Murder she says," Antonin muttered and looked over at Yaxley who laughed before firing off another curse "I should have only been so lucky to kill her."

A stunner brushed his shoulder and he moved instinctively away. A strangled cry from behind him made him turn. Narcissa. Lucius looked furious, catching his wife before she hit the ground and a jet of green volleyed back towards the aurors. "Show yourself! Who cursed my wife?"

"Lucius!" Yaxley said threateningly "Not now!"

Antonin knew this was one stray curse from becoming more than just a show for the aurors, Lucius would stop at nothing to get revenge on the person who hurt Narcissa. He backed up until he almost tripped over Narcissa's body, a stray curse flew overhead, another stunner.

Antonin cast a shielding charm. "Lucius, don't fo-"

"Damn the plan! I want revenge! _Crucio_."

A scream from the other side of the room and Antonin knocked Lucius over with his shoulder, pinning him down by his wife, Lucius struggled underneath him but Antonin placed one hand over his eyes and stunned him.

"Yaxley!" Antonin called "Give us some cover!"

"Right, _Lumos Maxima_."

Blinding white light, the tug of apparition, and they landed in the gravel driveway of Lestrange Manor. Snow fell lightly on them, wetting his face, melting into his hair.

"Safe?" She called from the front steps of the house.

He looked up to see her, bundled in a grey shawl from the house, shifting her weight nervously as she looked over them. It was the first time Antonin realized that he was home. _She_ was home.

"All safe." Yaxley said and rolled over in the

"Good." She said, and rushed out to pull the bodies out of the snow.

* * *

"Lucius!" Narcissa was awake in the drawing room, holding her head and lecturing her husband for maybe the third time this afternoon "Enough!"

"I'll kill them 'Cissa." He huffed "You could have been killed!"

"And I wasn't! Ow!" Narcissa sounded exasperated.

Lucius whirled to face his wife and Hermione, the latter of which was inspecting the back of her head carefully. "If you feel any dizziness, let me know." She said frowning "A concussion is likely."

"Get your hands off my wife, mudbl-"

"Lucius!" Narcissa hissed, looking as if he had cursed her himself.

He looked away, frowning, his arms folded across his chest, he let out a sigh. Antonin was watching to keep the peace, and Luna was in deep conversation with a portrait. Yaxley was fast asleep next to a reading Rodolphus, Rabastan was _out_ for the day. What had specifically called him away from Luna must have been something incredibly urgent because Antonin was sure that they were attached at the hip.

"We would never _be_ in this situation if we weren't trying to help her, you would have never been cursed!" Lucius ranted.

"And who would be cursed instead? Draco?" Narcissa was cutting, Lucius looked pained at the mention of their son "I would take a thousand curses for Draco, he's happier than he's ever been in Elba."

There was no response to that, Hermione sat down next to Antonin with a huff.

"He fled," Antonin changed the topic. "He fled from the aurors."

"That was strange, wasn't it?" Lucius seemed relieved and sat down next to his wife "The most powerful wizard of our time fleeing at the sight of a few law enforcement officials?"

"Did you...with the…" Lucius looked at a loss for words.

"Were those the only three? Surely there were more," Narcissa said and took a moment to pause "If he's missing parts of his soul now, he should be weaker than before."

"There's no way to be sure," Hermione replied and studied her hands "If it was just three that would be convenient for us. The locket, the cup, the ring."

"What about that damned creature he always keep around?" Lucius said "Surely that must be one of them?"

"Pettigrew?" Rodolphus asked, amused.

"No, he's not sentient, is he?" Lucius laughed, the tension in the room eased "The snake! It seems to have the mind of a kneazle, it _knows_ things."

"Paranoia, Malfoy." Antonin said as Winty popped into the room with a tea set. "The snake just knows when mealtimes and who feeds it."

"There are certain breeds of snakes, and people, reptiles with the minds of men." Luna said crossing the room and beginning to pour tea "Reptilians lurk among us."

"How can we know that the snake is sentient? Can a horcrux be in a living being?" Hermione asked Lucius while she graciously accepted a cup from her friend "Luna, have you met a reptilian?"

"They do not live in England, it's too cold." Luna looked at Hermione strangely, and then turned to Antonin "Move."

"Sit somewhere else girl." Antonin put his arm around the back of the sofa, allowing Hermione to nestle into his side, his fingers brushing Yaxley's hair as he slept peacefully on the other side of her.

Luna sat on the floor in front of Hermione and he tried to ignore the rise in his blood pressure. Why did the girl test him so?

Lucius raised an eyebrow at the intimacy but said nothing "If it can give things like necklaces sentience, why not animals?"

"That would imply that he shares a _mind_ with these horcruxes." Rodolphus said, finally closing the book he had been reading "He would have seen us destroy the last two!"

"Not without eyes!" Lucius insisted "Think on Nagini, have you ever seen a snake act like she does?"

"Well no," Rodolphus said after a pause "But he does speak the language of snakes! I thought-"

"He uses the snake," Narcissa spoke up "In some sort of ritual? Or maybe just the venom, Bella was vague about the particulars, I think the snake _should_ be killed if he's using it at all."

"Poison." Hermione spoke up "We po-"

"Poison is cowardice." Antonin replied, offended "We chop it's head off, burn the body, if it's a horcrux then fiendfyre is the only way."

"Poison means no one will get caught." Hermione insisted "We poison the snake the first chance we get, if he fled from aurors there is a good chance that he's significantly weakened."

"How?" Rodolphus asked "How can we do it without getting caught?"

"Pettigrew...and Severus, he said he knew fourteen undetectable poisons to me once, it's time to pick one."

* * *

The house was slowly filled with people and good cheer, when Rabastan returned dinner was in full swing and the kitchen was overly crowded with guests.

"Rabastan!" Hermione called, raising her glass over the din of conversation "Come in! We're just waiting for the main course."

Antonin looked up from his plate to see the youngest LeStrange standing in the doorway to the kitchen, white snowflakes caught in his dark brown hair, his nose red from cold, he had his robes closed tightly around him, but even so, he had a bright smile on his face, surveying the room and seeing Luna who was seated on the other side of Hermione in an animated discussion about the house cup with her Potions Professor.

"Move over, love." He said pushing Hermione's chair until it banged up against Antonin to make space to sit beside Luna.

"Gentle!" Antonin groused as some of his firewhiskey spilled over his hand and onto her. "She's not a piece of furniture, Rabastan."

"Gentlemen, and ladies." Hermione said as the first course was served, but her voice was too quiet and it took Lucius tapping his glass with a spoon gently to quiet the raucous conversation.

"Lucius, Luna" She said and gave him a smile "There are a few things I'd like to ask for."

"Christmas is over you brat." Yaxley pointed his fork at her and she laughed. "What more do you want?"

"Two things! Two things only Yaxley, a good idea on how to kill the snake, and for Luna to explain the meaning of the symbol on the ring." She held up the vial containing the ring that had cursed Dumbledore and handed it over Rabastan's head to the blonde who was staring very intently at the plate in front of her.

"The snake? Nagini?" Severus asked a few seats down, leaning forward to better see her "You've gone mad, girl."

"Then I've gone mad with her!" Narcissa crossed her arms, offended "The snake is definitely one of those _horcrux_ things, I've never met a snake that was so... _human_."

"Aside from our lord." Yaxley added.

There was a murmured agreement and Luna spoke up.

"This is a sign," She said rattling the vial, enjoying the clinking noise "From one wizard to the next that they are on the same journey."

The room was so quiet when she spoke he could hear the portraits breathing.

"This is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, three objects, you can see them here, you know, the wand, the cloak, and the stone." She was drawing things in the air with her fingers, but no one could see it but Luna "The owner of the ring, they were searching for them and wanted to tell other people."

"Like...the story?" Rabastan asked quietly "of the-"

"It's a _legend_." Lucius sounded annoyed "Not fact."

"Grindelwald spent a large portion of his life on that legend so there _must_ be something to it." Rodolphus countered "What if our Lord is making the same moves? This ring-"

"This is one of them you know," Luna opened the vial "you see? The stone it is the same as in the book."

She emptied the ring out onto the white tablecloth and everyone around the table stood up, Rabastan pulled her away. "Love, this ring is cursed."

"No, no, you can tell, can't you?" She pointed at it and looked at Rabastan strangely "The magic is ancient, it's aura is tinged green."

"What legend? What magic?" Hermione was becoming agitated "Put the ring _back_ in the vial until we know what we're dealing with."

Luna grabbed the ring and banged it on the table so hard that some of the glasses fell over onto the plates, there was a cry from Winty who was hiding behind Hermione but Luna held up a black diamond in her hand and offered it to her, now separated from it's ring. "This is not cursed, the _metal_ was cursed."

Hermione looked up at Antonin, worry evident in her eyes and he reached for the stone but her hand on his arm stopped him from taking it. He had read the book when he was young to learn English, and he vaguely remembered the story. It didn't _look_ like a legendary stone, it looked rather dull, and black. Luna smiled at him serenely, his hand dropped.

"Once upon a time," Rodolphus started, very gravely in the quiet room "There were three brothers from the house Peverell."

Antonin righted her chair that had fallen over and pushed it against the back of Hermione's legs until she sat down, Winty and some kitchen elves were fixing the mess of the table "They crossed a river that no one was supposed to have crossed and met death."

"That's absurd." Hermione said but Rodolphus cut her a look.

"Death gave them three gifts, the Resurrection Stone, the Invisibility Cloak, and the Elder Wand. These are the hallows, and the person who has all three becomes the Master of Death."

"You're sure, those three things?" Hermione asked now, touching the black ring that was missing it's gem which sat between Antonin's plate and hers with a fork "That's the legend?"

"The Dark Lord would certainly want them then." Lucius said, sounding panicked "Does he possess any of those? The cloak, the wand-"

"I know where the wand is." Severus cut him off putting a finger to his lips.

"I know where the cloak is." Hermione said and looked at her professor.

"Hogwarts." They said in unison, Hermione laughed, Severus looked chagrined.

"If Dumbledore had the ring, and the other two are in his castle, does this mean he's the master of death? What _does_ that mean?" Hermione asked.

Luna held the stone up to the chandelier to get a better look at the symbol etched into it.

Narcissa suddenly looked up above all their heads and opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. "Th-There's another guest-"

Hermione turned to look and so did he, a flicker of a ghost, not quite solid, not quite translucent, appeared over Luna. A beautiful woman with long blonde hair and grey skin, her hands reached out for Luna, thin and shaking.

"Put the stone down! Put the stone down!" Yaxley shouted and then there was the flash of an _expelliarmus_ and the diamond skitted across the tabletop, landing in a gravy bowl with a comedic plop, but the damage had been done.

"A shade." Narcissa got up from the table "It _is_ the stone."

"Merlin, _merlin_." Rabastan pulled Luna away but she yanked herself out of his grasp.

"Mother," Luna said, and took a few steps towards her, reaching out for the shade but stopping just short "You look unwell."

Yaxley was by his side at an instant, Rodolphus stepped next to him.

"Behind me," Antonin said to Hermione, he grabbed her arm and yanked her back, trying to shield her. "Be-"

"Luna, my beautiful girl, my miracle child." The shade's voice had a siren call, Antonin pulled Hermione closer to him for fear that she was too weak to temptation and would be drawn in.

"Mama, I have made a mistake calling you here. It is not time for us to meet yet." Luna said, but even as her dreamy voice sounded clear, her thin pale hands reached for the shade of her mother. "Even so-"

"No!" Hermione cried and pushed past Antonin withdrawing her wand and with a decisive flick a white bear erupted from her wand, but the patronus did nothing, the shade bent backwards unnaturally, like tall grass in the wind, unmoving as the bear disappeared.

Rodolphus grabbed her roughly "A shade cannot be banished like a ghost or dementor, it must be kill-"

"She's just going to be leaving now, I think." Luna said, her glance darting to Rabastan who was gripping onto the back of the chair behind Luna, unmoving, Antonin wasn't even sure if he was still breathing. "Right, mama?"

"Come with me Luna, there is _so_ _much_ to show you." The shade held out a hand again and, her fingers long and white, he was reminded of the way a Dementor reached for you, when things were particularly bad, when they had become particularly hungry. Fear struck him, and he forgot to breathe.

"Luna," Rodolphus sounded strained "Luna, you must be familiar with the story."

Hermione was beginning to panic but Antonin held her against him, his eyes trained on the shade, his mind back in Azkaban, thoughts of dementors swirling in his head. Luna reached to take her mother's hand but Rabastan suddenly moved, grabbing her by the back of her shirt and yanking her backwards.

" _Avada Kedavra_." The room glowed green, and then they were alone, Rabastan was shaking, his wand pointed ahead of him, tears rolling down his face as he hugged Luna to his chest.

There was a heart wrenching sob and the dreamy girl who he thought was a ghost himself fell to her knees. "Mama, _mama_."

The room was quiet, Hermione ripped herself from his arms and fell to her friend, wrapping her arms around her shoulders as Rabastan turned back to them, his face the same color as the shade, white, wet, distraught.

"I couldn't," he choked out to his brother "I couldn't let her take Luna."

Antonin's eyes fell on the gravy boat that he knew contained one of the hallows. It really _was_ here in the room, it had been in the house the whole time.

Severus brushed past Rodolphus, his lithe fingers dipping into the gravy, putting the stone back into the vial that they had been keeping it in. "Merlin, _merlin_."

That was all anyone could say. Yaxley had a loose grip on his arm, and he longed to go to Hermione, but he knew now wasn't the time, so the room sat in silence, waiting for some idea of what to do next.

* * *

"Master of death," Lucius said, sitting by the fire in her bedroom "We're a third of the way there."

Severus rattled the stone in the vial, trying to decipher it's secrets, Hermione was curled up in a ball on the bed, her knees drawn to her chest, Luna was asleep now in another room with Rabastan.

"Harry has the cloak, I thought that they were rather common objects, you know." Hermione said at last, Severus looked at her strangely, so she continued "He was gifted it, from the headmaster."

"Then that means at some point...he could have had all three, he had the stone, he must have known what it was, and the wand...and with the cloak being in his grasp." Severus looked at the vial again, laying it on the tea service, his hand shaking "Why didn't he?"

Narcissa was sipping tea now, the fire was high due to the latent magic in the room that it licked the top of the fireplace. Hermione was at Antonin's feet. He was playing with the curls on the back of her head, she buried her face in her knees, a copy of _The Beetle and The Bard_ lay at her feet. "The cloak can be given freely, the stone can be given freely, but the wand must be _defeated_." Her voice was muffled by the robes she was speaking through.

"We are back to our original problem." Severus said with a heavy sigh "No matter what, I must kill him. I was doomed from the sta-"

"Severus you must know I would have _never_ -" Narcissa said reaching for the potions master.

"How are we going to get the robes from the Potter boy?" Severus cut Narcissa off, Lucius huffed in at the slight towards his wife.

Hermione raised her face, "By asking, or we could make _him_ the master-"

"Absolutely _not_." Rodolphus cut her off, looking at her seriously "The boy is just that _a_ boy. To make him the master of death, to give him responsibility even Dumbledore-"

"The prophecy Rodolphus, the prophe-"

"Damn the prophecy, Hermione!" Rodolphus turned away from her, she looked as if she had been struck and hid her face back in her knees."The prophecy is _nothing._ We go on what we know, what we have evidence for, horcrux and hallows."

There was a great shuddering breath from the girl and her head snapped up, her eyes burned brighter than the fire warming the room, her hair cracked with magic and Antonin felt the pleasant hum of her magic meshing with his. "He's my friend, I have to help him, if the hallows can end the war, then let's get them together and end it."

"And why can't _we_ do that?" Lucius piped up, obviously seeing where Rodolphus was headed "Why do we have to hand everything to the Potter boy on a silver platter? Where is our glory?"

"The prophecy! The prophecy says only he-"

"You trust some damned prophecy that no one has heard but Albus _fucking_ Dumbledore over us?" Yaxley took another large sip of firewhiskey before tossing his cup back on the platter "We're not going to hand over the hallows to some teenager, that's that."

She looked at Antonin next, her eyes narrowed "And you agree? That the prophecy that the Ministry is kept under lock and key is just... _shit_?"

He looked over at the rest of the room.

"The Ministry also believes that muggleborns need to be registered for their protection, Hermione." Narcissa said softly "The Ministry is not alway-"

There was a tapping at the window and she leapt out of bed in a flurry of robes, throwing it open and letting in a gust of cold air and some snow to see a ruffled hawk carrying a small scrap of paper, it snapped at her, drawing blood, but she managed to grab the letter before it flew off.

Blood ran down her finger as she fidgeted with the small scroll, finally unrolling it to see a few words scrawled inside. She looked up at the room "Fenrir caught an Order member, and is asking me to come…convince him to live."

Severus was the first to speak, the tension in the room was too thick to penetrate "Let's get that looked at." He motioned towards her hand, her eyes went to Antonin, but he only stared at the fire, his gut twisting at the idea of visiting the werewolves again.


	21. Werewolves & Whores

"Human girl! Human girl! This way! This way!" A few children kept tugging at her as they walked through the campsite, she stumbled because they pulled her too roughly, Antonin caught her and yanked her backwards away from their needy hands.

"Don't touch her. You're going to hurt her." Antonin growled, but the wolf children didn't care, rushing ahead of the group of men, and one girl, who walked in silence through the compound, the argument from earlier still unresolved.

"Do you know who it is?" She asked Severus, who was trailing slightly behind her, all of them blended into the dark, a mass of black moving through the woods.

"No, there's been no word." His voice was quiet, but the children ahead of them could clearly hear their conversation, as they became quiet when the wizard spoke.

A wolf boy yanked open the door and then the group scattered when a large figure came out of the building, but a shadow in the moonlight.

"Miss Hermione," It was Donovan, Fenrir's second in command, he was covered in blood, his shirt torn in a few places, his hair slicked back from his face with a sickening mixture of sweat and dried blood. "You came quickly!"

"Beta," She said, addressing him evenly, but stepping back into Antonin, who stopped her from falling backwards with a hand on the small of her back. She gestured to his appearance. "Your blood, or anothers?"

"That's why we've called you here, hurry, we haven't got much time." He reached for her but Antonin pushed her behind him.

"At my pace, werewolf, at _our_ pace."

"Yes, Alpha Fenrir _did_ say you would be like this." Donovan held the door open for them. "In with you lot then."

Antonin entered first with his wand out, but quickly pocketed it when he realized there was no danger waiting for them. Hermione could trust the werewolves, but Antonin never would. A beast was a beast. A large gym was laid out before them, mostly empty now, a few men were scattered around on beaten up couches, the lights were not well placed enough to see them, only shadows that watched them as they passed. Antonin felt Hermione twist her fingers into his cloak, but even with Yaxley pushing her forward her feet were heavy, and they got heavier when they began to hear the screams.

Donovan stopped at a metal door with dents in it, there was a small light that gave the hallway a yellow tinge, Antonin peered into a small opening and could see into the cell only well enough to make out two creatures, a great hulking man, and a slim, sickly one on the floor.

"Open it, then." Severus said, Antonin heard the vials clinking around as he pulled a select few out, he caught a glimpse of a few vials of blood replenisher.

"Is it her?" Fenrir's voice was distinct "You brought her?"

"Yes, alpha." Donovan looked at her nervously and Antonin felt his heart skip a beat, was this a trap?

The door swung open and Fenrir had a curse mark that had cut up his shirt, blood making the fabric tug strangely at the wound.

Hermione made a small noise and his eyes moved from Fenrir to the cell, and in a pile of hay was a lithe and bloodied man, his skin ashen under the flourescent light of his cell with flaming red hair.

"Alpha Fenrir," her voice was tight, it cracked on the syllables "Who?"

"Some member of your Order, I figured you could...convince him. The last thing I want is to kill 'im. It's too close to the moon, the pups can sense him, if he goes between there will be problems during the changing."

"The pups?" She asked and looked down the hallway, but they were alone.

"Children." Donovan explained "The closer to the moon, the more heightened their senses, they know about the new pack member, even if he isn't _quite_ one yet. They will mourn his death, they believe he is one of us already."

Fenrir wiped his hands on his shirt, blood and dirt leaving stains where his fingers were and he stepped aside for her. "Get up, mutt, a visitor is here for you."

Antonin stepped in first and was followed by a timid Hermione who kept looking back at Severus for some confirmation of who was laying in the cell, but there was no way to see any part of him, his face covered with his hands, his body curled up towards the wall. They all waited.

"We don't have much time," Donovan urged "the sooner you-"

"Quiet!" Antonin snapped, if the girl was rushed, she'd get nervous, Hermione knew how to conduct herself.

She got to her knees gently, the hay rustling as her brand new velvet robes dragged along the ground. Her hand was shaking as she reached out and touched the man laying down in the cell.

Her voice was clear, no longer timid even though he saw her other hand fidgeting with the inlay on the edges "Hello."

The man rolled over and reached out as if he was about to strike her. He had a large gash down his face and his neck looked like it had been used as a chew toy. Antonin stepped closer to stun him, but he stopped abruptly before he made contact with her.

"Hermione?"

"Bill?"

"You're dead! You...Greyback!" He reached out for her.

"Protego." Yaxley hissed. "You will not touch her."

Bill's hand met dead air and he recoiled.

"Yaxley!" She sighed, her eyes wandering up to Severus "Out, out, everyone but Severus out."

* * *

Fenrir lead the group of men through the twisting and turning hallways of the compound until he found themselves back in the den where she had first met with him. A naked woman with matted brown hair served them mead out of wooden goblets before kneeling in front of the fire waiting for her next order. It seemed like werewolves were unaware that house elves existed.

"It will be awhile, I did a number on 'im." Fenrir said collapsing in a large leather chair "Sit, men." He gestured to the open seating.

Only Yaxley, Rodolphus, and Antonin remained, Rabastan looking after Luna, and the Malfoy's returned home once they got the summons to the werewolf camp. All three of the men fit neatly on the large couch facing the roaring fire, but even so the room was chilled. It was her lack of presence he was sure.

"Why did you attack him?" Yaxley spoke up first.

Antonin knew the real question. _Why did you drag us into this?_

"Him...and my lost mutt were sniffing around the grounds for somethin', tried to catch the mutt, he got involved, wolf business is _wolf_ business, humans shouldn't get involved." Fenrir held out his empty goblet to the woman kneeling by the fire. She picked up a pitcher to refill it as he spoke. "But the mutt can't control himself, he takes some _potion_ and doesn't realize what he does to his wolf, suppressing who you are...something's gotta give, and so now I have another mutt."

"Why didn't you let him die?" Rodolphus asked "Surely that would hav-"

"Not in my woods, no wolf is alone." Fenrir gestured to the door "Every wolf is welcome to my pack, if we're not together, then we'll be wiped out completely."

"So, if this is wolf business," Antonin asked, peeved. He could hold his tongue no longer. "Why did you drag us here in the middle of the night?"

"The girl, she'll be able to convince him, if she knew the mutt, she would know the newly turned." Fenrir settled back against the chair "The mutt is still here, I can smell him, his guilt. I'll wait for him to come to me."

Antonin felt his stomach churn, he didn't take pleasure in the idea that two Order members were close to where they were. It felt like a trap. He eyed Rodolphus who was tracing the rim of his wooden goblet with his finger before looking to see Yaxley staring at the door they had just come from. Were they led right into a trap? He eyed Fenrir and saw him laying back against the chair with his eyes closed, the now empty goblet dangling loosely between his fingers as they all waited for the other 'mutt' to burst through the door.

"Antonin, Rodolphus, Yaxley." Her voice was quiet, and Antonin realized he had fallen asleep in the sitting room, the fire was coals and sunlight streamed through the windows. They were alone.

Yaxley was on his shoulder and Rodolphus was slumped over on the arm of the couch. She looked exhausted, her hair was pulled back and she had streaks of blood on her cheekbone and nose where she had probably tried to wipe off sweat.

There was a mutter from Yaxley and she was instantly clean and Yaxley sat up, massaging his neck, looking at her blearily. "All good, love?"

She looked down the hallway where he knew the newly werewolf was before turning back to them. "I'd like to sleep for a bit, and then...then I think we can go, he's calmed down a bit."

She yawned and looked at the woman who had fallen asleep on the floor by the fire before giving them all a questioning look, Antonin nudged Rodolphus awake and he looked alarmed.

"Okay?" He asked, startled, looking her over critically.

She smiled "A quick nap?"

"Of course." Rodolphus got up first, offering his hand to her, she took it gratefully. Antonin cursed himself for not thinking to do the same.

She fell asleep curled up against Antonin as Yaxley lit another fire, nudging the sleeping woman awake for breakfast, tea was served a few moments later with meat, because Antonin was sure that's all they ever ate. Every so often the clatter of china would cause her to shift a bit, and he'd try to move her so he could sit comfortably but it seemed impossible.

Severus came in twenty minutes into tea, wiping his hands with a white cloth and looking at the room wearily.

"Yeah?" Yaxley asked as Severus tossed the bloody cloth into the fire.

"Yeah." Severus answered before conjuring up a wooden chair "Yeah."

Sometimes one word could convey so much emotion, the werewolf was stable, Severus was alright, and everything would turn out fine. He poured himself a cup of tea, watching the girl who was now more fabric than skin, buried inside Antonin's robes and her own, only her mouth and nose sticking out as she slept.

"He's willing to turn now." Severus said finally as he poked at the lamb that was in the center of the tea set. "And he's willing to help."

"Obliviate him, and be done with it, the less people who know about her, the better." Yaxley replied, irritated "We might as well announce it in the Prophet if we allow every idiot to meet her."

"As much as I hate the Weasley's, they have the trust of the Potter boy and the cloak."

"Ah," Rodolphus replied "That's what it comes down to then, the Hallows."

"That is the goal, isn't it?" Severus raised an eyebrow and Antonin rolled his eyes.

"The goal is to finish the war and get out." Antonin replied pointedly "If the Hallows is the way, then so be it."

A bang and she sat upright in a flash of fabric, her hair askew, Rodolphus sat his cup down slowly and stood up. "Stay."

Her eyes were blurry and unfocused "Wha'zzat?"

"Alpha Fenrir! Bring out the newly turned!" A voice called from outside, hoarse and feral. Antonin had a bad feeling, and Yaxley stood too. "He is mine!"

Antonin stood up, followed by Hermione, who now had her wand out and was pressed up against his side. Only after a few moments did Antonin realize he was holding her there. Fenrir, who was wearing nothing but a pair of tattered jeans and a robe thundered down the stairs, followed by Donovan and another man who was equally as large.

"Mutt! You've come crawling back!" The door swung open and all the men in the room were bathed in light, and Hermione came face to face with a bloody and feral Remus Lupin.

She looked up at Antonin, confused, but Yaxley was quicker, pulling her behind him and she made a strangled noise of protest.

"Professor Lupin?" She cried "Let me go!"

"Hermione?" Remus called, he sounded hurt, confused.

It happened in a flash, Fenrir tore through the door and with a thud, Remus was pinned beneath the larger man. There was howling and snarling and limbs thrashed before everything went quiet.

"Don't hurt him!" Hermione was pinned between Yaxley and Rodolphus, she pulled away, but Rodolphus held fast. "Do-"

"Do you want to come between wolves?" Antonin snapped "Do you want to die? Idiot girl."

She quieted down at his insult, turning into Rodolphus and hiding her face. Rodolphus looked over her head at him and he patted her hair, his hand still had an iron grip on the girl's arm. Antonin knew she would still try to flee. Her bleeding heart would be the death of them all.

Remus was tossed against the other side of the couch, pushing it forward slightly, Severus stopped it with his foot and raised an eyebrow. "Done?"

Fenrir was bloodied, wiping his hands off on his jeans, his body bathed in sunlight, white scars crisscrossing his torso. "What brought you back, mutt? In heat?"

There was a noise that made Hermione pull away, but after a few moments the fighting started up again. "Go!" Severus roared as the couch tipped backwards, taking the tea set with it. "Go!"

It was Fenrir who stopped them from leaving. "A reward." The alpha werewolf grabbed the weaker man easily, pulling him up so Remus could no longer touch the ground "For the girl who freed the wolves." He threw Remus at their feet with a sickening thud.

Remus was coughing up blood and he groaned, looking up at Antonin looking all the whipped dog he was. Antonin toed him and Hermione turned away from Rodolphus and opened her mouth. He was sure she was going to scream, but instead she closed her mouth and stepped back away.

"Just…" a wave of her hand, that he thought was dismissal, but the wolf at his feet was cleaned "Just...just get him into a bed. Severus." She put a hand to her forehead and let out a shaky sigh.

"He was with you before, I smelled his scent on you." Fenrir said later in the kitchen while she was stirring a cup of tea "It is a gift, your dog back to you."

"And what am I to do with a beaten dog?" She asked, the metal clinking against the china "A dead one?"

Fenrir had the grace to look away from her "The mutt has been sniffing around here for weeks, looking for you, I returned what is yours, problem solved."

"Do you often return things in such a state?" Rodolphus asked, walking into the kitchen followed by Severus "Half dead?"

"Don't provoke him, Rodolphus." Hermione said, and yawned. "Alive?"

"Alive, as much as he hates the wolf, it healed him." Severus replied instead, and she refilled her tea cup, adding lemon and sugar before handing it to him. He continued "We need to rest, tonight will be a test."

"A test?" Hermione looked up at him warily.

"You have two Order members in this compound," Severus said "Three, if you count myself. This will be a test of our little band of thieves, and their ringleader. Do we trust them?"

Hermione looked indignant "Of course we t-"

"Severus tried to turn you in," Antonin cut her off "If we have two other people who are Dumbledore's men, then what will stop them from trying to turn you in too?"

"They're wolves, she is a friend of the alpha and they must be loyal to their alpha." Fenrir said as if it was plain as day "She is in no danger here."

"Since _when_ have you had Remus Lupin's loyalty?" Severus sneered "You think very highly of yourself."

Fenrir let out a low growl and Hermione looked at Antonin with concern, he shifted closer to her unconsciously and she settled up against him.

"If we tell them about you, then they must be kept _here_." Rodolphus said gesturing to the compound "Everyone here knows you are still alive, Fenrir can keep them in line."

"I trust Professor Lupin! And Bill!" She said setting her cup back on the counter "Besides, you want to use him for the cloak, don't you? We have to give a little trust to get it."

"The Weasley is fine, it is Lupin who I don't trust, after Sirius' death he's become...unstable." Severus said looking at the door behind him "This is just another incident in a long line of incidents."

"Then," Yaxley cut in "There are two options, the obliviate them both, or keep this Lupin character here under Fenrir."

"A prisoner?" Hermione was aghast "Are we that kind of-"

"Yes." Rodolphus cut in "We are _that_ kind of people, put us at ease Hermione and give us your decision."

Her fingers tugged on his sleeve and he looked down to see her grabbing at him for strength. " _Pchelka_ ," Antonin's voice was low "We cannot keep risking your safety by letting everyone know the truth, it was your idea to hide, this is the consequence of that."

Her head full of curls bounced as she nodded in agreement. "Professor Lupin stays, we tell Bill about his errand this evening. It might be beneficial for him to stay with Bill during the changing anyways, a friend...in a dark place."

Hermione let go of him and walked out of the room, leaving the men in her wake. Antonin looked around the room. "The closer we get to her old life, the worse things become." Yaxley said, crossing his arms.

"I cannot protect her from her past." Antonin shot back, the helplessness he was feeling threatened to overwhelm him, it was frustrating.

"Who can?" Rodolphus added "We can only keep going forward, if it's a collision course, so be it."

* * *

Her bedroom was more of a den, with one small bed and plenty of couches. They all woke up at various times, but mostly she slept, sandwiched between Antonin and Yaxley, buried deep into Antonin's robes, only poking her face out every once and awhile when she turned in her sleep. It smelled like fire and fur pelts, pine and crisp winter air. The sun dipped lower and lower as the fire burned smaller and smaller, and finally, when dinner was served by a few women she turned over, her whiskey eyes reflected the firelight and surveyed the room.

"We should have two more place settings." She said as the table as conjured lazily by a half awake Rodolphus, Severus was missing, "I think...important matters are better discussed over dinner."

"Bring the two new additions," Rodolphus asked one of the serving girls "and two place settings for them."

"Please." Hermione added.

Rodolphus rolled his eyes, but she didn't see it because she hid her face back down in the pillow.

Yaxley rolled off the bed and inspected another goblet full of mead. "Don't they have the _real_ stuff here, this mead is no better than water."

"I'm surprised werewolves even have mead," Antonin said, trying to move, but her head was on his arm so he gave up and laid back down staring up at the wood ceiling "You should be so lucky it's not blood."

"Wolves aren't _like that_." Hermione's voice was muffled and the pillow "They're not vampires."

"Have some manners, Lupin." Severus' voice could be heard through the doorway and Hermione rolled over.

Antonin had to look away. Her face was hot from hiding it in the pillow, her hair mussed, the button down shirt she was wearing had become wrinkled and the top few buttons had gone missing. She was just out of bed tousled, just out of bed with _him_.

"Now Severus, I don't think your attitude is _warranted_ on a sick man." The door opened and Hermione stood, followed by Antonin.

"Professor Lupin." She smiled and looked at Rodolphus who also stood "We're just waiting on one more...please take a seat."

She gestured to the table that was full of deer and chicken, potatoes and carrots all laid out neatly in the center. It was quite a spread, but then again, Fenrir did hold her in high regard for some strange reason. The man looked trapped, with Severus behind him, and a room full of death eaters before him, his eyes darted around looking for an escape.

Hermione sat down first, the scratching of wood against wood before everyone in the room followed suit.

"I'm starving," Yaxley said picking at some chicken with a fork "I don't know how much longer we were going to have to pretend to be ominous."

"Oh I assure you, that you were _not_ good at pretending." Hermione cut in "Pass the potatoes."

Severus sat down on the other side of Rodolphus, ignoring the man on the far side of the room, and Antonin served her some deer as she took the wooden bowl of potatoes from Yaxley. "Firewhiskey would be good." Antonin said as she filled her plate and the scent of rosemary filled the air.

"Hermione?" Remus asked as she began to cut her chicken "Hermione Granger?"

"Eat, Professor Lupin." She gestured with her fork "You must be hungry, we all are."

He sank into the chair on the far side of the table as Fenrir brought Bill in and sat at the opposite end of the table, Bill at his left.

"Explain." Lupin snapped, his neck tied tightly in bandages, his ash brown hair was messed up and Antonin could see the beginning of another bandage underneath it. The wolf had barely contained rage. "Explain why you're alive. Explain why you've kept the entire Order in the dark while you're _consorting_ with the enemy!"

Fenrir was up in a flash, towering over the rest of them "Disrespect her mutt, and these humans won't be able to patch you up again."

"Enough." Antonin warned, watching her hand shake as she tried to remain nonchalant, her head bowed as she studied her food. "Dogs don't eat at the table, and you won't eat with us if you continue."

"Manners, Lupin." Severus needled before stabbing another potato "Or you'll eat outside."

She cleared her throat and looked up from her plate, "Professor Lupin, I am not dead, and I am not ignorant of how wolves work either, if you're going to fight with your Alpha for dominance, you will not be doing it at my table. _Eat_."

Fenrir sat down and began to pull apart a leg of deer earnestly.

"You did me a favor by reporting that you had seen Fenrir Greyback kill me," Hermione started slowly "and I want to thank you, and the only way I can do that right now is letting you keep your memories. I also want to explain."

"Which one is it?" Lupin scanned the room, his hand was gripping the butter knife tightly, his knuckles were white. "Who started fucking you? Who turned you? I can smell it."

Her face went scarlet, and she bit her lip "Is that what you think I've been doing?"

"It was a _real pain_ to pencil in some time to deal with a shit like you between all our wild orgies with Hermione." Yaxley said and waved him off "We only have a few more minutes before our next one, so make it quick, dog."

"I knew this would happen," She said, pushing her food around on her plate "Professor Lupin, I thought that you would be better than the rest of them, but clearly no matter what I manage to do, I'm always a woman first, and a woman is only good for spreading her legs. It doesn't matter what _you_ think Professor Lupin, it only matters what Bill thinks."

"Me?"

"We're looking to end this war as quickly as possible, and it's not going to happen as long as our Lord is around." Rodolphus supplied "So we're looking for a way out."

"Is this your grand plan?" Lupin said, his amber eyes flicked from her to Antonin. "You're going to replace the Dark Lord once you've-"

Her hand slipped into Antonin's underneath the table and she squeezed it. An unspoken askance of strength, he could never deny her.

"We have destroyed a few...parts of the Dark Lord already, and we are currently in possession of one of the Hallows." She continued, Antonin rubbed small circles in the palm of her hand with his thumb, she relaxed.

"Those are a _myth_ , they don't actually exist, do they?" Bill looked incredulously at the table of Death Eaters.

"A myth has to start somewhere, and we have confirmed that we have the resurrection stone." Rodolphus added. "We will...need your help for another."

"Another? You know where the others are?"

"Well all three," Hermione said "one will be easy, one will be difficult. We don't know what the Master of Death means, but if it means an end to the Dark Lord, then-"

"What changed?" Remus interjected "You used to be brave enough to say his name, now you're not brave enough to disrespect your master? Say it, Hermione and I will know you're the brave girl from Hogwarts, say Lord Vol-"

" _Silencio_." it came from Yaxley, even though her hand made the wand movements.

"I'll do it." Bill said quickly "if it will help you, Hermione, I'll do it. One favor for another, you patched me up...you saved my life."

"Your life isn't saved until you accept your wolf, and you may have different feelings once you find out what your task is." Hermione said, her eyes flicking towards the silenced wolf on the other side of the table. "I want you to survive, that's really our only goal, to make it through this."

"A vow?"

Hermione shook her head "I trust your alpha will keep you in line, he's good at what he does."

Fenrir gave her a grin with a mouthful of deer, and she smiled in return, Remus tried to stand up at this but Fenrir's big hand shoved him back down in his seat.

"Are either of these two?" Yaxley waved at them like they were flies "In the know at the Order? Maybe we could ask about how many are left of the _you know_."

"Severus?" Rodolphus asked "You're an Order member, do you think either of these two know something you don't?"

Severus looked at Remus carefully before turning back to Rodolphus "I can't be certain, the only ones I am aware of are the Headmaster and the Potter boy."

"I told you," Hermione said to Yaxley "Prof- _Severus_ is probably the highest ranking Order member, there's no secrets that he doesn't have."

"Untrue, but noted." Severus looked at her for a lingering moment and in that moment Antonin felt uneasy.

"Antonin?" She asked and he realized he was glaring at Severus, he schooled his expression.

" _Malyushka_." He replied and saw the blush creep on her face but her eyes flicked down the table.

"Okay?" She asked looking at him worriedly.

"What is it?" Bill asked, interrupting them "Do I have to kill someone?"

"No, you just need to get us an item," Hermione looked around the table "Harry's invisibility cloak, and get it before he returns to Hogwarts."

"Done." Bill said proudly and gave her a smile "If it helps you, Hermione."

"Well that's two then." Yaxley looked relieved, so did she.

"Professor Lupin stays," She said timidly "I mean...for his safety, and for his...sire's wellbeing. Is that what it's called?"

Fenrir waved at Lupin with a rib bone "For the new mutt, it doesn't matter if he's here or not, but for his mouth it does."

"Professor Lupin, please understand, I am still on _your_ side." Hermione pressed "but...I am doing things my own way."

"Whatever side she's on, you're on." Fenrir said seriously "She saved your hide once already, we are all in debt to her."

"I'm exhausted," she declared, stabbing at some potatoes "let's just eat and go back to bed."

"We have much to do before we sleep," Severus drawled raising his goblet "to another late night."

"To late nights." The table agreed, and there was the strange _thock_ of wooden goblet against goblet.

* * *

Hermione and Severus were in the living room with Rodolphus, attending to children and adults alike, small wounds, complaints, and illnesses as the pack came to see the three wizards that could cure all ills.

"I have to," she explained "Fenrir asked, and it's hard to say no to helping people."

She was bent over a messy boy of about six, inspecting his hand critically with a pair of tweezers, her hair pulled back in a messy bun, the firelight gave her a soft glow. She looked angelic. The kid she was helping yanked away from her and cradled his hand to his chest and she gave him a disapproving glare.

"You won't go around touching split wood like that again?" She asked

"No! And I didn't!" The child snapped and she crossed her arms.

"Go on, I think your mama is waiting."

She set the tweezers down on a nearby table and walked over to Antonin who was leaning against a far wall after a crippling defeat from Yaxley at chess.

"This is the test Severus was alluding to?" He said gesturing to the line of people waiting outside the cabin.

She shook her head. "It's strange, to see all these people living on top of this mountain and realize that most of them can never set foot in a hospital or a school." Hermione stepped closer to him and he unfolded his arms, allowing her to lean into him if she wanted to.

He realized he wanted her to.

"There's so much injustice to these people, I want to help them, but everything I can do is not enough. Fenrir is not some cold blooded monster, he's trying to protect all these people that society shut out. It's exhausting." She was next to him now, leaning against the same wall, inches away from his body.

"You can't save the world, but you're doing a great deal more than anyone else would have." Antonin admitted watching Rodolphus select vials of potion for a beat up man. "You're too soft."

"Some softness is what made the werewolves realize that someone cared about them other than the Dark Lord." She said gesturing to the room "Softness is good, everyone needs a little softness."

He wanted to tell her that _he_ needed her softness, but as she leaned against him, he realized she already knew. "Exhausted." was all she said.

He accepted that. Rodolphus looked over at him but Antonin waved him off with his free hand, the other held Hermione against him, upright, as she closed her eyes and relaxed against his body. No one else had the trust in him that she did. She was made for him.

After a few moments, Severus called for her assistance and she stood back up, walking over to see a small child again, wailing, a rash down her arm that was oozing. "Poison Ivy?" She asked.

Severus nodded and turned the child roughly towards her "Miss Granger will take care of you."

Severus hated children.

* * *

She was eating a very messy dessert of berries and chocolate in her room when the moon was highest in the sky. Severus was complaining about the sheer amount of illness that seemed to be present in the camp, but Rodolphus had fallen fast asleep next to her on the bed, his boots still touching the ground.

"Old man," she teased as Rodolphus had laid back before they had been served dessert, but as soon as his head hit the mattress he was out.

A soft knock on the door and her name. _"Hermione_?"

"Come in, come in." She said digging into the bowl to get the last bits of chocolate. "Professor Lupin."

The door opened to reveal a stunned Remus. Her room was still full of men in various states of wakefulness, only Antonin and Severus were still awake, Yaxley dozing by the fire, and Rodolphus' soft snores punctuated the pops and hisses of a fresh log burning.

"I thought you'd be alone." He said his eyes darting around the room.

"Hardly," Antonin scoffed "She has no concept of personal space."

"Because you took it from her?" Remus had his hands clasped in front of him, his face was calm, but Antonin could tell he was tense.

"I'm sure Antonin wishes he could give it back sometimes," She looked up at him and he noticed she had smeared chocolate across her chin. "Right?"

"A mess." Severus growled "How is anyone going to take your plans seriously when you look no better than the children covered in dirt outside?"

Hermione quickly wiped her face and turned her attention back towards Remus. Antonin silently cast a scourgify and she was instantly clean, her hair poofed up a bit at the spell and she glared at Severus instead of him.

"Sit down, Professor Lupin, let's talk without your Alpha." She conjured a chair that looked a bit rickety, her wandless magic wasn't perfect yet, Antonin supplied her charm with his own that made it into a plush wingback chair much like the ones near the fire.

"You're okay?" He asked looking over her critically "You are unhurt?"

"Oh spare us, Lupin." Severus sneered "Get to the point, quit wasting our time. I doubt you cared much about her wellbeing earlier when you called her a whore."

"I cannot ask a simple question? Are you her keeper?" Lupin snapped.

"I am _fine_ , and I am clearly unhurt."

"You have a curse mark-" Her hand came up to her collar and Antonin felt her pull away from him. "We have witnesses from the Ministry that said it was Antonin Dolohov that cursed you, that a carefully aimed slic-"

"Enough! We were both present." Antonin stood up abruptly and Rodolphus rolled over on the bed "Do you think I conveniently forgot that I had cursed her? Do you think that I cannot see it every day that I spend with her?"

He paced the length of the room, his thoughts swirling, anger bubbling below the surface threatening to overtake him. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill the wolf and take her away from her past life that kept trying to catch up with her.

"I remember, very clearly." Hermione's voice was soft "but we have _all_ done things in this room we regret, show me who is innocent here? I see no one."

"Whatever you did, whatever they told you that you did, it doesn't condemn you." Remus reached out for her and she nudged Rodolphus rather roughly.

"I am _not_ condemned." She snapped "I am not evil. I am _one girl_ trying to make a difference in this war with people that I trust."

"You don't trust me?" Remus asked, his eyes shifted to Rodolphus who was sitting up now, fixing his hair and focusing on the conversation at hand.

She crossed her arms, her eyes alight with that fire that Antonin craved. "I do, that's why I'm keeping you here with Fenrir, I trust you to take care of Bill, I trust you to do the right thing when it comes time. That is my trust."

"Hermione," Remus pleaded "You're young, and these men-"

"Did you come here to insult her or to speak with her?" Rodolphus asked, his voice rang clear in the silent room.

It was at times like this that Antonin was reminded that the LeStrange family _was_ nobility, his posture was straight, his jaw was set, his robes spoke of old money and his tone commanded attention. He noticed now that they wore a matching set, the filigree on her new black robes was the same as his. She _looked_ noble.

"Continue Lupin," Severus waved, pouring himself another cup of tea "I'm sure that you won't be long for this world now."

"Hermione, I'm sure you've been imperiused, or perhaps-"

"That's rich." Yaxley called from the chair, yawning "If only we could have thought to imperius her."

"Professor Lupin." Hermione said, rolling her eyes at Yaxley "I am not going to convince you of something you obviously won't believe. I am trying to end this war, I am trying to get us all out of this alive, that's all. If you think I am brainwashed, or imperiused, or held under duress, then you can leave. These men have saved my life more times than I care to admit, they're my friends, and I trust them."

"Hermione, I don't know what they've told you, they-"

"They're what?" She challenged. "Murderers? We all are, _we all are_."

He looked horrified.

She tilted her chin up "And I don't doubt that you're one too. So you can stop underestimating me, because everyone's _shit_ estimation of people is what is losing us this war in the first place. Trust me or leave, Professor Lupin." The title made her realize who she was talking to "Please."

Severus laughed. It was a warm rich sound that made her blush.

"Oh that was mean wasn't it?" She said, looking at Rodolphus who yawned again "I'm sorry."

"You did wonderfully." Rodolphus' eyes were dancing with delight "A LeStrange already."

"You're with him?" Remus sat back down "I thought-"

"Oh, you know, we share." Yaxley said swishing around the empty tea pot before setting it back down "It's just one orgy after another, we hardly have time for anything else."

"Yaxley!" She was scandalized, but even so she was laughing. "Antonin?"

" _Pchelka_ ," He groused. He hated this Remus character.

"Okay?" She offered her hand out to him. She needed him.

"Okay."

He couldn't deny her. He sat back down and Yaxley called for more mead, it would be a long night.

Tucked into Rodolphus whose face was buried in her hair, her body curled around Antonin in some kind of strange sleeping arrangement. He was still up with Yaxley discussing the growing problems at the Ministry. Yaxley lapsed in his complaints about Dolores Umbridge and plucked the goblet from Hermione's outstretched hand before it fell on the floor.

"Lightweight." Yaxley hummed before setting it on the table that was already crowded with pitcher's of mead and empty goblets "Only three and she passes out."

Antonin felt a twinge of a smile and turned behind him to check on her.

"You care for her a great deal." Remus said.

Antonin froze, he had completely forgot about the wolf. "Don't you have somewhere to be that's not here?"

"I didn't believe it, a bunch of convicts turning on their esteemed master for a teenage girl? You had to be getting something out of it, didn't you? But I see now. A daughter, a sister, a friend, a _lover_." Remus stretched the last word and Antonin stood up quickly and there was a groan. "It's easy to manipulate a teenage girl, but even more so to project on her."

He hadn't realized his wand was at the ready, but he cared little now, he _hated_ this wolf, he would silence him forever. "Insult her again, dog."

"Remus Lupin." Her voice was hoarse with sleep, with drunkenness "Do you think the _brightest witch of her age_ is just some plaything? Is that what you want?"

She rose slowly, her robes falling off her shoulders, her eyes half lidded, her hair tousled as she focused her gaze on the room. "Do you want to _save_ me from them? I don't need saving. I don't need your pity, and if you insult my friends again…" She let the threat hang, it sounded like a threat, but Antonin knew there was none.

She transfigured Severus' chair into a cot to make him more comfortable, a display of her magic, of her power, and pushed her hair back away from her face. "I protect them, they protect me."

Remus was at wandpoint and Yaxley stood up brushing off the remains of some biscuits. "We ask for loyalty, and that's it." Yaxley said looking over at her. "Right?"

Hermione yawned and nodded before falling back into the bed. "I wasn't asleep, and I wasn't done with my mead either."

"You were done, love, you were done two glasses ago."

"Merlin save the Dark Lord from a fearsome teenage girl." Remus put his hands up defeat "Fine, I'll do as you say."

When they left the next day the whole compound came to see them off, children came to see "Miss Hermione", and some even tugged on the voluminous robes of "Mister Snape."

"I don't think it's particularly _fair_." She said as they walked down the side of the mountain "That you won't give me a hangover potion."

"Oh come off it Severus," Yaxley said from behind them "Give the girl a hangover potion, I know you've got doses."

"She'll never learn what a hangover _is_ and why it should be avoided if you keep brewing potions for her to avoid it. Let the girl suffer."

"Just brew me a poison instead then and let me end it!" She whined holding her head, but then stopped.

" _Hermione_ , spare me the dramatics, you're beginning to remind me of Luciu-"

"No." Her eyes were alight. "That's it."

"What's _it_?" The group stopped and turned towards her, she was bubbling with excitement.

"The vow, I solved the vow." She said "I'll save you Prof- Severus, I'll save you yet."


	22. New Years Eve

They were in the library, Luna seemed to be stuck to Hermione as she perused the shelves. Finally Hermione's fingers plucked a book off the shelf and she walked back to the group of men. Luna was giving her a minute by minute recap of their latest hunting expedition for snorkacks in the woods behind LeStrange manor, and Hermione listened intently. When Luna finally quieted, Severus spoke up.

"What is your _grand plan_?" He said gesturing to the book in her hands.

She opened the book and scanned the table of contents before flipping through the pages, opening it and turning it towards the group of men who were littered around the fire in various states of tiredness.

" _Mortepotem_." Severus looked up from the book to her, his black eyes blazing "Explain."

"We never got the specifics of the vow, which means we technically cannot get you out of it, but...we can remove you from it with this." She pointed at the potion, the book made a hollow noise when she tapped it "if you brew the potion, I will...I will administer it and get the wand. You're still fulfilling the vow, but someone else...someone else does the dirty work."

"Hermione," Rodolphus said softly "one of us can do it, it doesn't have to be you."

She frowned at this "Rodolphus and Antonin...must come with me, but I will be the one to do it, it's my plan, I will see it through. I will never ask someone to murder for me, I will do it myself."

"Do you think I am some kind of coward? That I will brew this poison and _hide_ as you use it?" Severus stood up abruptly, startling her.

"Did you want me to make you brew this potion and lie?" She asked standing up, but she only came up to his chest. She was fierce, but she was short. "I don't want you to kill him, I don't want you to suffer."

"Then let me face my fate!" He said and turned away from her, he made a motion to leave but she grabbed him

"Then let me face it with you!" She cried "You're not in this alone, not anymore, I will do this for you, anyone in this room would."

"Hermione." Severus' voice was raw "Please."

"I will do it, let me do it, let me protect you." She was crying, he hated when she cried. Antonin longed to go for her, but did not

"Why can't the old man take it himself?" Antonin offered, tugging her away from Severus "Why do you think you're going to have to poison him, _malyushka_. Surely he knows he's dying."

"That is a good point." Rodolphus said as Hermione crossed her arms "Your initial idea was good, but this is better, the power is in his hands, and Severus, nor you, love, have to do anything but get the Hallows that he possesses."

"New Years Eve." Yaxley said "Before the students come back, before the year ends. We meet with him. Can that be done?"

"That's in two days, that's madness." Severus turned back to them, pained.

"The potion takes twelve hours." Rodolphus said. "It's not insane, it's doable."

"Hermione comes with me." He countered "I want him to know-"

"Antonin comes, Rodolphus comes." She countered.

"Hell, why don't we just all come then?" Yaxley raised his hands "That's just about the group, isn't it?"

"Fine, everyone come to witness the grand death of Albus Dumbledore!" Severus snapped "I'll be in the kitchen."

"How can we somehow get four deatheaters in the castle?" Rabastan asked from the couch.

"Lucius, of course." Hermione said, wiping tears from her face and looking up at the ceiling. "All answers lie with Lucius."

* * *

She slid into bed with him late. She had been helping Severus, repairing broken ties with the isolated man in the kitchen. The holidays clearly had taken their toll on her.

"I missed this." She said stretching before stealing some of the blankets from him, her head laying on the pillow, riotous curls falling in front of her eyes. "Just this."

He stopped his hand from fixing her hair, he stopped his body from moving closer, he stopped his breath in his chest. Small platitudes from her shifted his world slightly, and he hated that she had the power to do so. He would not give in to temptation so easily.

"The bed?" He asked, his voice was calm, he was not.

She had the freedom to do everything he couldn't, a blush rose on her cheeks, and she scooted closer so that her nose pressed up against his chest, her riotous curls brushed against his chin, her hands settled on his waist and then slid up his back, pulling the night shirt he slept in up to expose his skin.

"You." She breathed "Just you."

He couldn't relax, not with those small hands pulling him closer, his heart was beating wildly and he knew that he couldn't stop it. Her closeness was intoxicating, the smell of potions mixed with vanilla and gave her a earthy type of sweetness.

" _Pchelka_ " He breathed, the words he didn't want to say were on the tip of his tongue. He swallowed them. He was an old man, desperate for affection. His feelings weren't real. She deserved something more than desperation.

"I like when you say things...you know-"

" _Po-russki_?" He asked, the tension released when she peeked up at him, her eyes shining and a hot blush on her cheeks.

She bit her lip and tried to roll away from him but he held her close, and then in a fraction of a second, he brought his lips to hers. He was supposed to try and stay detached, but he couldn't. Her affection was timid and it roared through his veins. She was his. _She was his._ Her soft lips yielded to him as if they had done this a thousand times before, his tongue slipping past her lips and finding hers. This was his, every taste of her belonged to him, and she gave in as he pulled her against him, holding her tightly against his body as he kissed her. Searching for some kind of salvation in her, searching for validation that he was not an old fool bewitched by a teenage girl.

He found none, only damnation when she made a small moan and his cock pressed painfully against her thigh. He ripped his lips from hers, enjoying the small pants she made, her breasts pressing against his chest as she caught her breath.

" _Antonin_ ," his name left her mouth like a prayer, but Antonin could only hear a siren's call.

He wouldn't be pulled in. He couldn't. He didn't want to hurt her again.

Antonin fled.

* * *

"You did what?" Yaxley said, his voice thick with sleep, he rubbed his eyes. "She was...what do you _mean_ you left?"

"Move over and stop asking questions." Antonin pushed Yaxley over and collapsed on the bed. "Just-"

Yaxley propped himself up and studied Antonin for a moment, trying to determine whether this was a dream or not. "Are you telling me that an ugly old git like you had a hot and willing young girl in his bed and you ran away?" Yaxley laughed before starting the fire again in the cold bedroom. "Ran away to some bloke's bedroom? She's going to think you're _on the other team_."

"Fuck off, Yax." He hid his face in the pillow "What will happen if I fuck her and then take her before the vampires?"

"Oh I'm sure that's _exactly_ what you were thinking." Yaxley said sarcastically, sitting up against the headboard.

"She's too young, I'm too old." His voice was muffled by the pillow, he couldn't look at him. "She's a fool."

"The fool is in my bed, and there will be hell to pay in the morning if you leave her alone." Yaxley said wisely, sliding down into bed with him.

"The road to hell is full of good intentions."

"I think it's paved."

"Piss off."

He didn't sleep, he couldn't, because whenever he closed his eyes for too long, he swore he could still feel her next to him, and it haunted him. He didn't want to hurt her again, he couldn't. Love was a dangerous thing.

She was next to Rodolphus the next morning at the table, her nose was red and her face was flushed and he realized she had just come in from outside. He sat across from her and her eyes flashed at him dangerously before looking back down at her breakfast.

"Trouble in Paradise?" Rabastan said, taking a seat on the other side of his brother, the table was still empty, it was still dark out.

"Who asked you Rabastan?" Antonin bit out.

"Ohhh," Rabastan looked at Hermione and then picked up a roll. "I see."

She looked over her shoulder at the sink and saw that the cauldron was still bubbling a deep red concoction, placed under a stasis charm.

"Tomorrow." She said to Antonin, and that was all she would say.

She slept with Rodolphus that night. The bed was cold.

* * *

"From Cissa," Lucius explained handing her a letter in the foyer, Antonin hovered behind her but did not speak. He was no more than a shadow lately as she ignored him. "Dolohov, are you going to invite me in?"

He glanced down at the letter to see Narcissa's loopy writing " _The rat problem is finally under control. All of my love, Narcissa_."

"Come in Lucius." Hermione smiled up at him "Narcissa is well?"

"She misses you, clearly." He gestured to the scroll she was holding "Turning me into owl post just to deliver a letter. Rodolphus!"

The sitting room was busy with a nervous energy, Severus sitting by himself and Rodolphus reading over the Prophet as Rabastan and Luna played an intense game of exploding snap near the hearth. While Lucius spoke to Rodolphus about some business venture, Hermione walked over to Severus and crouched before him, offering him the letter and trying to catch his eye as he rolled the vial of poison in his hands. He looked at it briefly before withdrawing a second vial out of his robes. He diverted his eyes to the floor as she pocketed them both. Out of all the people in the room, Severus shouldered the burden for this the most.

"I'll give it to him, yeah?" Her voice was soft, her hand covered his and squeezed. "There's no need to do this alone."

His voice was a soft rumble, her name, a plea " _Hermione_."

She bowed her head with him in some kind of silent prayer. Her hair was tame today, in a low bun held together with Yaxley's Christmas present, a pin of a phoenix that would turn and survey the room. Her hands squeezed Severus' and she opened her mouth to say something when Winty popped into the room.

"Mistress Hermione, Master Yaxley is waiting in the drive, asks me to say "all aboard that's coming ashore" but Winty not know what this means."

"It means that Yaxley is a great idiot, Winty, never forget it." Hermione stood, and she tugged on Severus to stand also. "Come, we have great deeds to do today."

Despite her anger, Hermione eventually came next to him, looking up at him expectantly, it was only after he realized that she was waiting to be spelled undetectable that he decided that she was still miffed. He spelled them both, and even though he could not see her anymore, he could feel her, a small hand that grabbed his, fingers lacing with his own, that he surmised that maybe she _wasn't_ so angry after all.

They followed Rodolphus, Severus, and Lucius out, Antonin waiting until Yaxley caught sight of them before turning Rodolphus as invisible as the both of them, he felt a tug and realized Rodolphus had grabbed her other hand.

"Little dove?" Yaxley called

"I'm here, I'm here." She replied "Let's go, we have much to do."

Yaxley produced the portkey, to prevent another mishap like Hogsmeade, a boot this time, and Antonin grabbed on.

"And away we go. _Portus_." Yaxley smiled and there was a tug at his navel, the world turned into swirling colors, and Hermione held his hand tightly.

She fell when they arrived at Hogsmeade, a fresh outline in the snow and a cry of indignance.

* * *

The castle was empty as Lucius, who walked with so much importance you would swear he was the castle owner, followed behind Severus, and trailing behind them was Yaxley who glared at every portrait. They were silent, and so the portraits and ghosts afforded them the same. A strange march to a witness the death of the most powerful wizard of their time. A premature funeral procession.

"Bing Bong Ginger Snaps." Severus' voice was grave as the gargoyle swung aside.

"I can't breathe." Hermione said beside him, panicked "I ca-"

"Be strong, my dear." Rodolphus replied "Be strong for me."

There was a hiccuping sob in the air next to him and he felt his hand tug downward and Yaxley turned, alarmed "Alright?"

" _No_ ," She whispered "No, no."

"Come on, love, almost there, we have to do this." Yaxley looked at the gargoyle, alarmed "Pick her up, Tonin, carry her there if she can't do it."

" _Malyushka_." He groped the air near where he thought she was "This must be done, this is your plan." Finally he felt her waist, and he picked her up so that her head was on his shoulder. "I can take you there, but you have to do the rest, yeah?"

His robes were wet " _-tonin_." It was muffled and she was crying "I'm going to murder him."

"Quiet, malyushka, _quiet_. _"_ Why did she have to become emotional at the most inopportune times?

"Everything alright, Mister Yaxley?" Severus called from the stairwell, and Antonin pushed Yaxley forward with his free hand.

"Yep, just inspectin' down here." Yaxley said "On my way, on my way."

"To what do I owe this unexpected meeting, Severus?" Headmaster Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, slightly slumped over, his voice was raspy "I believe you were spending the hols with your family?"

Antonin cast a muffliato on her as she slid off of him onto the ground, he felt a shimmer of magic and realize she had scourgified herself.

"Miss Granger." Dumbledore said, his eyes shifting to the side of the room where Antonin sat.

She nudged him and he dispelled the charms he had put on the three of them. "I'd like some tea," she tilted her chin up "Headmaster Dumbledore, and then, I would like to have a word."

Every bit of decorum she possessed, every ounce of control she could exact, she used. Sitting down and arranging her LeStrange family robes around her, her back ramrod straight as she poured tea for the two of them. Severus sank beside her on another wingbacked chair, distracting the Headmaster. Antonin he watched her slip a few drops of clear liquid into the tea before asking the Headmaster how he took his tea. _Veritaserum_.

"I am here for a few things," She said, once the elf served her a cup of tea "I have come to ask what you have been teaching Harry, I have come to ask you about soul magic, and I have come here to offer you a painless death." Her eyes flicked up from the tea cup. "In _return_ I will free Severus from the vow you put him under."

"My girl, Harry will be so pleased to know you are still alive." His eyes twinkled when she flinched at the name of her friend "You must miss him so, and to spend your time as a prison-"

"You won't be telling Harry of my visit, Headmaster, one of us will not be leaving this room alive." She set her teacup down "What have you been teaching him?"

"That's a private matter between myself and Harry, my girl, I am sure you understand the need for secrecy, these are dangerous times we live in. If yo-"

"Let's…" Her eyes flicked to a clock in the room, she waited a few seconds before starting again. "Let's try an easier question. Do you know how many horcrux exist?"

"You know of horcrux then?" He looked around the room.

"We've destroyed three of them." Yaxley grumbled next to her "I'd say we know about them."

"Three remain." The Headmaster responded before sipping tea, closing his eyes briefly to enjoy the flavor.

"The snake?" Lucius asked eagerly.

"Yes Mister Malfoy, the snake is one." The headmaster's voice was raspy after his tea "and Miss Granger, you have been in contact with another."

"What is it?" She demanded.

"Harry Potter."

She made a choking noise and turned her head away, Antonin could see her anguish clearly, but before he could comfort her, Severus stood up, knocking his chair over " _Careful_." Lucius admonished but it was lost in a tirade of Severus' anger.

"The boy? The boy must be killed?" He was horrified, Hermione stood, but only to stop him from cursing the Headmaster outright. "I gave my life to protect Lily's son so you could eventually kill him? A sacrifice for _the greater good_? And you knew, you knew the who-"

"Severus!" She said and stepped between his wand that was shaking, pointing at the headmaster, his eyes wild and unfocused as he struggled to come up with words to express his horror "Severus, _please_."

"We raised the boy just to kill him, that's why he was never trained, that's why he was never disciplined, because eventually the boy would die. It was a favor, wasn't it, you demented fool, to allow him to live above everyone else, to be a hero before you killed him?" Severus' voice cracked on the question and Yaxley righted his chair, his hand on his wand in case anything should happen.

"It was always a possibility." Dumbledore hedged. "If there was no other way."

"Damn you," Severus knocked over the tea set and Hermione jumped, Antonin pulled her out of the way "Damn you for making me trust you, for giving my life to escort a lamb to the slaughter!"

She struggled against his grasp but Antonin held her tightly " _Hermione_." He admonished.

She stilled. "Antonin," She whined "Antonin, let me go."

He could only hold her tighter, as Snape cussed out Headmaster Dumbledore, and then finally, when his words slowed, when his wand lowered, the room lay still in the silence.

"Does he know?" Hermione's voice was soft, it was firm.

"No." The Headmaster took another sip of his tea "No, of course not. He will die a hero, because that's what the wizarding world needs, to unite under one banner, _one hero_."

"What are the significance of the hallows? What is the master of death?"

"I wanted to see my sister, I wanted to see her one last time." The headmaster looked across the room and out the window that was collecting snow "Alas, a shade is not my sister, and the price was too high."

"Answer me!" She cried, Antonin held her steady, her whole body shook even as she spoke. "What is the master of death?"

"I do not know." He said simply "Are you curious?" He pulled his wand out of his sleeve and held it out towards her "You always were a precocious girl, Miss Granger, that's why I kept you with Harry. I never thought you would...leave him for something else, I always thought you could push him forward, push him through this war, to fulfill his destiny. Your loyalty was something I prized, and now I see that it was something I underestimated."

"Destiny is _shit_." Hermione said and took a step away from Antonin. "Prophecy's are _shit_ and your plan is _shit_. _Expelliarmus_." She waved her hand harshly and the white knobby wand went flying across the room, knocking it onto the desk and then onto the floor "The way you underestimate people is _shit_." Her steps were timid, her teeth were chattering even as she spoke she withdrew another vial from her sleeve and sat it down gently on his desk "The vow you made Severus take is _shit_. Release him from this vow, and leave the rest up to me, Headmaster Dumbledore. I will not use people as pawns, I will empower your pawns to be people."

He grabbed the vial with his only hand and inspected the liquid. "I would have never expected it to be you, Miss Granger, out of all my careful arithmancy, I never planned for this."

"Not everything can be planned, for Headmaster." She replied, holding onto the ledge of the desk.

"Tell Minerva won't you?" He said uncorking the vial "That she was right about you."

"I will Headmaster." She replied looking over at the entrance "I will."

And while she looked away, looking for Minerva McGonagall, he tilted the vial back, downing its contents, and the whole room waited in silence as Hermione stared at the door. He could feel it, the energy that left the room as the Headmaster passed, like a draft had cut through the room and a shiver passed through him. What the Dark Lord had fought for so long to do was accomplished so easily by the teenage girl who was as still as a statue in the center of the room, pointedly looking away, waiting for Death to arrive.

"Grab the wand Yaxley," her voice broke, but she never took her eyes off the door her teeth chattering as she grabbed the desk. "Grab the wand!"

"Of course love, of course." His voice was soft and he bent down and grabbed the wand near his feet. He hissed and there was a spark at the wand rejected him. "It's gotta be you, love, it's yours."

She walked across the room stiffly and bent down to pick up the wand, collapsing to her knees over it, taking great hiccuping sobs as she clutched it to her chest. The room was still, watching her shoulders shake as she curled up as small as possible. Antonin went to her, pulling her hair back away from her face as she cried.

No one spoke a single word until the clock struck midnight. Champagne was on the table, courtesy of Winty. The clock was chiming over and over, but no one moved. There was no celebration.

"It's a new year." She said, laying dead center in the bed in Rodolphus room, her eyes focused on the ceiling. "Dumbledore is dead."

He was woken up to a sickening feeling, and realized his mark was burning, and for the first time in a very long time, Antonin was scared.

Ten minutes later, his mark burned. Hermione seemed to know before he did, rolling over and facing him, her eyes red with tears. She handed him a vial, this one clear, and said "Narcissa."


	23. Cold & Confessions

Narcissa took the vial from him while she and Lucius greeted the stream of wizards that filed into their manor. It was a strange parade of faces, top Ministry officials mingled with Knockturn Alley mainstays, all were equal in the line into Malfoy manor, all were brethren united under the Dark Lord. Antonin filed in behind Rodolphus, Yaxley behind him. Yaxley gave a running commentary on the misdeeds of everyone in line with them. As they filed into the packed ballroom, Yaxley became quieter, realizing the gravity of the situation as they all waited for the Dark Lord to speak. A sea of candles bobbed overhead, illuminating the crowd beneath that only wore their finest to the New Years Eve Ball at Malfoy Manor that was just a front for something entirely more sinister.

"Brothers," the Dark Lord, despite the occasion, was sitting lethargically on his throne "I have received word from my contacts within the Ministry that Dumbledore was found poisoned!"

A deafening cheer that shook the chandelier, a few fireworks were shot off, he could see Lucius wince beside Narcissa as one burnt the ceiling. Antonin looked around to see Rodolphus staring at his shoes.

"Ssseverus," The Dark Lord's voice hit him like a bucket of ice, he turned to see the crowd parting next to Severus who had a mask of indifference "You are still standing. Thisss is your doing, but yet, you did not include me in your plansss."

He was more snakelike than usual, his eyes darting around the crowd, Rodolphus stomped on Antonin's foot, and pressed the back of his head down, Antonin bowed his head, cursing Rodolphus under his breath.

"The poison acted sooner than I had expected, my lord. I w-"

" _Traitor!_ ' A girl's voice rang out and the crowd shifted to see who had spoken out of turn. Antonin's heart sunk through the floor thinking that somehow their plans were discovered. Had Severus said something that clued everyone in? A tearful Pansy Parkinson cut through the crowd her wand at the ready, no taller than his Hermione, no _older_ than her either, pointing her wand towards her Professor. No one stopped her, the Dark Lord shifted his gaze from Severus to the girl. The room was so quiet he could hear Yaxley cursing the girl under his breath.

Her mother stumbled out from the crowd after her daughter, a stupid woman, if Antonin remembered correctly, a lush and a gossip. Her red cheeks and glassy eyes confirmed that at least the lush part hadn't changed. "Pansy! Pa-"

" _Crucio_." It wasn't the Dark Lord, it was Severus who fell the girl. Her mother froze, waiting to be cursed next.

Antonin turned his attention back to the Dark Lord who was tapping his wand on the wood of his makeshift throne. The irritation was disposed of.

"And where were you _after_ the fool died?" The Dark Lord asked, Severus turned away from Pansy, releasing the curse on the unconscious girl.

"With...the inner circle, we were-"

"Best discussing how to break the news to you." Rodolphus stepped out from the crowd, tugging Rabastan along by the cuff of his robes, Rabastan looked stunned. "We knew that killing Albus was something you had prized, but when the opportunity presented itself-"

Antonin followed Rodolphus out of the crowd and into the center of the room, Yaxley stayed close behind. If they went down, they were all going to go down together.

"We took it, you see?" Lucius walked down the empty middle of the ballroom, stepping over an unconscious Pansy. "We would always help a brother in need."

Silence.

"Very well." The Dark Lord said eying all of them, Antonin stared at the girl near his feet, was she alive? Were pureblood women always so weak? "Let the celebrations resume, the inner circle will come with me."

"Pansy," a hiccuping sob as Pansy's mother, Priscilla, fell to her daughter " _Pansy_."

Her cries were drowned out by the orchestra that struck up a deliberately fast paced dance. Weak. Antonin decided, a weakness that would never get them through this war alive. The inner circle filed out behind Severus, Narcissa and Lucius bringing up the rear, there was no conversation, only bowed heads as they waited for their punishment. They were in this together for once. Antonin decided it was because of what had happened between all of them in the headmaster's office that they awaited punishment as a group instead of just watching Severus Snape sit through his usual bout of cruciatus on the ballroom floor.

The Dark Lord walked slower than usual, Wormtail crowded him, and Nagini, the snake that Narcissa despised, brushed against everyone's robes as she in front of them all and leading the way down to the dining hall where they took their meetings.

They seated themselves in silence.

"While I am displeased at the _way_ that you handled this, Severus...and the rest of you, I am pleased that there was some initiative and cohesion among my most trusssted. It is a firsst and it sshould be rewarded." He looked over the table, Antonin shifted in his seat and averted his eyes "An opportunity has arisen. We ssstrike on the day when ssstudents are gathered for a ball. We ssstrike on a day of celebrating love: Valentine's day. We will assemble our armies, the werewolves, the vampiress, the giants, and our own to attack Hogwarts and show them that love helps _me_ conquer all." A map materialized on the table out of smoke. "Discusssss. Pettigrew, fetch Nagini some food, I feel her tiredness."

After an hour of strategy, mostly led by Lucius and Yaxley who were unparalleled in wizarding chess for good reason, the Dark Lord was satisfied with their plans and dismissed them, citing a need to spend time with Nagini who hasn't been her best lately, cursing Pettigrew for being lax on a feeding schedule.

Narcissa met them at the door, her cream party robes sparkled in the candlelight of the foyer. "For Hermione." She said quietly, he could hardly hear her over the bright waltz in the ballroom. She handed Antonin another letter, he looked down at the Malfoy seal and then suddenly another box was shoved into his hands, it looked like a dress box and it was as light as one too. Narcissa was always obsessed with dresses, but with the war so close at hand, was it right to be gifting the girl with one?

* * *

She was chewing her lip as she looked at the box, still unopened. It was sitting on the kitchen table, catching the first rays of dawn. She was exhausted and after reading the letter over twice while Yaxley discussed his strategy for the Battle of Hogwarts. She looked frazzled, she looked _exhausted_. It hurt to look at her. Winty and Drolly were cooking an early breakfast, and Rabastan had disappeared to find Luna.

"I didn't expect him to move so quickly." She said at last pulling the ribbon on the fine dress box that Narcissa had brought her. "We have to leave tomorrow for France, to the giants, Hagrid said it took him weeks."

"Because of this," Rodolphus said watching the package warily, afraid it might be cursed. "We will be summoned in much more frequency leading up to the battle, Yaxley and Lucius at first, but then-"

"Oh." Her quiet sigh as she saw what was in the box stopped Rodolphus, a note lay on top of a dagger " _There has not been a man who can refuse Elven Steel_ , _may giants have the desires of men."_

"He thinks that the snake is sick, Nagini, not himself, so we still have time." Severus ignored her and pressed on. "When Narcissa kills the snake, he will find out that his horcrux have been destroyed and Hermione-" Here he stopped, unsure. "The Potter boy."

She shook her head, her curls bounced, she yawned before she continued, she shivered. "Not now, not yet, I can't... Giants, Vampires, The Order, that's all we can do this week, we have a month to get all of our ducks in a row." She was rubbing Narcissa's scroll between her fingers, her go-to for nervous ticks. "Luna, Rabastan, and Antonin will come with me to France, to the giants."

This caused an outrage at the table, voices rose up as Luna appeared and took her seat beside Hermione, slipping her hand into Hermione's underneath the table in a small gesture of support. Hermione took it. "Rodolphus, you're the only one I can trust if Bill comes back, Yaxley you're at the Dark Lord's beck and call, Severus needs to go test the waters at The Order. I'm not sure if the Dark Lord even remembers Rabastan is in the inner circle, and Antonin is…"

"Understood." Yaxley cut off "Damn my intelligence and good looks."

"Hermione," Rodolphus said across from her, sliding a scroll across the table "times are turbulent ahead and if things go south for us here while you're away-"

"Don't speak of it!" Tears began to form in Hermione's eyes right away, she tried to blink them away "There has been too much loss already."

"What is done is done," Rodolphus continued, ignoring her protests "We spoke with our solicitor, and we think it's best if we added you to the _family registry_ if you will, you're heir to the LeStrange estate in case of our passing, or...incarceration. So, we did."

"Without my permission." She said looking at the scroll on the table, her eyes narrowing. "Without so much as a by your leave."

"Yes." Rodolphus was dogged and crossed his arms.

"You won't change it?" She asked, setting down Narcissa's letter, Antonin could only see the top of her flowery writing _My Dearest Hermione_

"No."

"Are you pleased with yourself?" She asked plucking the scroll up with her index and middle finger, and holding it up.

"Absolutely."

When she broke the seal, he caught the date before she did. _August_ _17th_.

"Rodolphus! This was done months ago! And finalized!" She held the parchment up, it caught the morning sunlight, Yaxley laughed, followed by Severus.

"Welcome, my dear, my Hermione Granger-LeStrange." Rodolphus stood up and positively beamed at the room.

"I'll kill you before the Dark Lord has a chance, Rodolphus LeStrange, how _dare_ you adopt me without my permission, I am _of age_. I have parents! Rodolphus!" She followed him as he left the room, laughing. Their voices could be heard fading upstairs, a thump followed by a few more, and then it was silent.

Antonin got up to check on her, but Yaxley stopped him.

"It's a family matter now, Antonin." Yaxley said and sipped some tea as Winty began to set the table for breakfast. "No wonder the elves warmed up to her so quickly."

* * *

France was cold, and she hugged Narcissa's box close to her while they trudged deeper into the woods. The blanket of snow became deeper as the air became thinner and the winds became heavier. He kept casting warming charms over the group but the icy wind ignored all magic. The sun dipped below the sky, and soon they climbed in the shadow of the mountain between pines that were heavy with snow and dead trees. The group was exhausted by the time they reached the peak, Hermione stumbling over her own feet and falling into a nearby snowbank. Antonin wiped the sweat from his forehead, trying to catch his breath. He was far too old to be climbing mountains with teenagers.

In the valley below were the giants, milling around in the last rays of daylight. Fires were stoked into huge pyres that climbed as high as the giants stood, entire trees used as firewood. Antonin hauled her up and she stilled against him. "We camp here tonight," he said pointing to a nearby cave "In the morning, we meet the giants."

She did not argue, and Rabastan led the small group of people down the steep slope of the mountain and into a cave. After a precautionary lumos maxima, showing that the interior of the cave was every bit as damp and empty as he had hoped he cast a fire charm, but it disappeared faster than the lumos had.

"Look," she said next to him, opening a bag he had not seen before, a small leather thing, _Prada_ in small letters on the side, out came a few logs wrapped in twine from home "Burn these, they will never go out."

"A gift?" He gestured to the bag, that she was closing.

"Yaxley." She said quietly "It's...charmed to be endless."

Antonin cursed Yaxley for going to that muggle store without him. He tossed the logs on the floor and lit them with a little too much fury, making Luna step back and Rabastan curse him. Antonin wanted to apologize for how he had been treating her lately, but there was no easy way to explain his feelings to her, his possessiveness, his fear, his guilt. He wanted to make her blush when he spoke Russian, he wanted her warmth again.

"Heliopaths are near, they are the reason the fires are so bright." Luna said as their fire licked the roof of the cave. "It is a good sign. Negotiations will go well."

"That's good news, then." Rabastan said "Are you cold?"

Luna shook her head but then looked out at the mouth of the cave. "I'd like to read the stars tonight, Rabastan."

"Then stars we shall read!" He got up quickly and then produced from his robes several star charts as if he had been waiting for her to ask all night.

Rabastan followed her out of the cave, querying her about every constellation that came into his head like a child following his mother out.

"She is a strange girl." Antonin said poking at the fire with his wand.

"She's giving me time with you." She said tracing the edge of her bag with one finger "She wants me to talk to you."

Antonin stopped poking at the fire and looked up at her nervously before casting his eyes downwards. "I don't need you to speak to me, and I don't need some child interfering with my life."

"Oh." She was quiet again, the fire crackled and pop and he wished he could just bite his tongue.

"Hermione, that's…" his voice trailed off. He swore in Russian. He tried again. He steeled his resolve and gripped his wand, the next words hurt "I cannot be involved with someone...your age."

What was he thinking? Since when did her age matter? His mind was screaming at him right now, a blur of thoughts a chorus of " _doorak_ " as he waited for her response.

"That's...I will wait." Her voice was soft, it carried on the wind.

When did it come to this? He didn't even _remember_ getting feelings for her, when did she decide to develop feelings for him? Now he stood across the fire from her, watching the way her golden hair caught the firelight, her whiskey eyes decidedly looking away from him. Her finger still traced the edge of the purse.

"You don't need to wait, I am a dead man, _pchelka_ , I am a convict, I have no money, honor, or even kindness for you." The words sounded weak even as he said them, how would he convince her that this was for _her_ best interest? "I have cursed you, kidnapped you, tried to kill you-"

"Saved me, protected me, freed me-"

"Imprisoned you, _hurt_ you-"

"Consoled me, bathed me, kissed me, _cared_ for me." Her last words were quietest "I understand Antonin-" He felt his heart twist in his chest at her Russian intonation of his name "- if I'm not...your type, or if what I've done, or if my a-"

"Never what you've done, do _not_ think that-"

"Then what is it!" She stood up suddenly. Her voice was raw. He could already see tears in her eyes, it pained him.

"Do you _think_ , _pchelka_ that it is a bit strange that you've developed feelings for a man who almost killed you, can you not see the mark that I gave you? I am your prisoner!" He spat the words out and instantly regretted them "Jailer, I am your j-"

"Antonin." She became soft "I don't want to make you feel trapped. Not after all you've been through."

He faced the wall. He couldn't face her. He couldn't look at her. His stomach was roiling. His chest was tight. He had never felt more vulnerable than in this cave with his girl, his Hermione. He was trapped. There was no way out.

"Be honest with me," She began nervously, her voice thick with emotion. He could feel her fingers against the small of his back, brushing against the scar of a _sectumsempra_ that he took for her. "Do you feel nothing?"

"I feel too much, I feel too much for you, and merlin _malyushka_ I'm going to hurt you again." He was so tense he wondered that if breathing would snap all his muscles. He held his breath. He waited for her reply.

"I am not fragile." She said, a second hand joining the first, and the warmth of her touch relaxed him. "Nothing can hurt me as much as your denial does."

"There is no denial." He said at last "I could never deny you anything."

"Don't deny me this, don't deny me you." He could feel her head between his shoulder blades and he relaxed. "Please, Antonin."

He moved slowly, afraid to startle her, afraid that this moment between them could be broken and took her small shivering frame into his arms. " _Moya lyubov ._ "

"Please be real," she whispered into his robes.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I am sure now, that this is a dream."

And as he curled around her on a cot he had transfigured from a few stones, listening to her soft breathing finally even out. He knew that tomorrow he would wake up back in Azkaban. There had never been a time in Antonin Dolohov's life where a woman loved him without strings attached, and what Hermione offered him surely was too good to be true, too good for an expat, an ex-convict, and definitely too good for an ex-death eater.

She shifted a few hours later when a cold wind blew deep into the cave, cutting through his robes. He sat up quickly, jostling her off of him.

"Wha-"

"Rabastan and the girl." His eyes scanned the room, the fire was still burning brightly, but they were alone in the cave.

Hermione sat up quickly and looked at him fearfully "They never came back."


	24. Giants & Greetings

She was standing on the mountain top, everything below her knees plunged into snow, a lumos was held steady in her hand, the box from Narcissa in the other, calling for Luna and receiving the howls of wind in response.

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach when he realized where they could have gone. "Come, _pchelka_ , there is only one other place." He grabbed her around the waist, and without warning apparated them down to the base of the mountain to greet the giants.

Hermione was always terrible with apparition. She fell backwards into a snow drift and he failed at catching her in time. He let her lay in the snow as she stared up at the sky. "What do I say? Sorry for sneaking in like this in the middle of the night but you kidnapped my friends and I'd like them back. Is that diplomatic? It doesn't sound like it."

He opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by another.

"More of ye, eh?" A voice boomed behind them, Antonin whirled around and withdrew his wand to protect her. "C'mon then, the chief wants te see ye'r."

He had a gruff accent and dropped almost every syllable from every word. Antonin didn't move. They had a purpose and he would see it through. "And what of the others?"

The giant, a scraggly shadow in the moonlight that towered over them, scooped up the girl and reached for him, but Antonin dodged the clumsy hands that came for him. She was screaming above him, but all the darkness blended together, trees and the giant were a black mass that loomed over him, there was no distinguishing Hermione from a branch.

He shot off a diffindo, and it cut down some branches, they fell around him. Missed.

"No Antonin!" She shrieked somewhere above him "Just follow him, just-ow!"

The trees rattled, and the giant moved, Antonin followed.

Despite the late hour when they went to the center of the camp, many of the giants had gathered, and even though many for the giants was maybe a dozen, the valley felt crowded. The fires were towering pyres that created a makeshift aisle they walked down to meet the chief.

He could see her now in the firelight. She looked pained, her eyes scanning the campsite to try and find Luna as she struggled against the fist she was held in, and finally, as soon as her eyes were drawn to something she was tossed unceremoniously on the ground before the feet of a man who was sitting in a throne that was as tall as the giant who had placed them. Antonin had never felt as small as he did with the giants, most of them were easily double his height, but that was their disadvantage after all. Antonin could curse and run before they could get their grubby hands on him or the girl again. He began to formulate an escape route, but his thoughts were interrupted as the chief began to speak.

The chief spoke in a language that Antonin didn't understand, a garbled slur of grunts and french, Hermione scrambled to her knees, covered in snow and presented the box over her head causing the other giants to move. He caught sight of Luna and Rabastan, strung up on poles, unconscious, bloodied, perhaps dead. Antonin moved to get the girl and apparate out of the valley. He couldn't save them all but he could cut their losses.

"It can' be, li' 'ermione?" A voice called out from the darkness that surrounded them. "Why so it be."

She ignored the voice "Inside this box is a rare elven dagger. It is our gift that we came to present to you. We're a peaceful envoy so their capture was not necessary."

"Halfling, you know?" A booming voice said overtop of her.

"I do, ye'." Grunted the shadows again.

The giant bent down and inspected the dagger. She enlarged it silently so it was fit for a giant, and he picked it up, weighing it in his hand. She coughed up blood and fell forward in a deep bow. "Please, we would like to join you for negotiations."

"Tomorrow." There was a wave and Antonin stepped forward to collect the girl, but she stood up on her own.

"And my friends?" She asked "I will not _leave_ this spot until you untie them."

The giant made a huffing noise and stood aswell, but she was immobile in quiet defiance, a trickle of blood drying at the corner of her mouth.

"Small girl." Boomed the chief, the trees shook.

"I am not small, and I will not back down, untie them." She demanded, discarding the box at her feet and putting one hand on her hip.

"I could crush you." His voice echoed in the valley.

"Go ahead." She shot back "And lose your one shot at getting out of a war you don't want to fight."

"We will _fight_ , giants will fight."

"For what?" She spread her arms and stumbled around in a small circle, speaking now not just to the chief, but to everyone present. Her voice was tense. She was clearly in pain. "What did they promise you? To keep you in this valley? A prisoner of the mountains? To not kill off your people anymore? When did giants become slaves to wizards?"

"We are no slaves," roared the giant. "We are free!"

"Then do not _fight_ in a war that gives you nothing, that will do nothing but kill the last of your kind." She hissed "Do not answer a wizard's call-"

"You are a wizard." The giant approached her but she did not move, she barely came up to thigh level, but her eyes were focused straight upwards at the chief.

"I am a muggleborn." She replied "They want me dead. They want my kind dead, and right now they're trying to keep us separated away from the rest of the magical world before they get kill us all off. What they are doing to muggleborns, they will do to giants."

"We are _too big_ for wizards to kill." The chief said before collapsing on his chair, clearly beginning to see her point. Antonin relaxed. "We are strong, not weak like you girl."

"I am not weak, but I am your future." She said, fire in her eyes, her hair crackling with her own magic "I have brought you a dagger, but more importantly, I have brought you a warning. Do not answer the call next month when the Dark Lord asks you to die for him. If you are truly free, you would not die for a man that doesn't respect the great history of your people, a man who keeps you holed up in the cold valleys of France and sends you _nothing_ for months in exchange for your life, _all_ of your lives."

The silence in the valley was deafening, finally, a log popped nearby and the giant stirred from his thoughts.

"Untie the humans." He said finally, his hand resting on his chin "After darkness tomorrow, come again, we will speak."

One giant cut them down with a crude dagger. Luna and Rabastan fell in heaps into the snow and she looked back at him pleadingly. Antonin grabbed them both and he looked up from the body of their friends to see her engaged in quiet discussion with one of the smaller giants.

She gave him a small smile, and he heaved Rabastan over his shoulder while picking up Luna, it was going to be a long night, but she cared him. He'd do anything to keep that flame alive.

* * *

"I failed 'im," sobbed the giant as Hermione tended to Luna. Hermione's shirt was caked in her own blood, but she didn't seem to mind. Antonin had healed her ribs, but only enough for her to heal the others. "'e died and I came 'ere to fix my wrongs, y'know 'ermione?"

Antonin hated how the giant spoke like every other giant, a garble of English and grunts. This giant wasn't surprised that Hermione had been living with Death Eaters, nor was he surprised that she had come here, instead the giant wallowed in his own grief over the loss of Albus Dumbledore.

It was strange how, despite her being the cause of his death, she only comforted others and did not mourn herself, her fingers were now carding through Rabastan's hair, a soothing gesture of kindness that he was very familiar with, as she listened intently to the giant's sobs of self-deprecation.

" _Moya Lyubov_ ," The endearment made her smile, because even though she did not understand it's meaning, the way he said it made it sacred "Come, let me check your wounds."

"Oh, ye'r gonna heal her now? Ye'r the ones that started this y'know." The giant accused and she shot a look back at him.

"Hagrid," Her voice was steel, but she thought better and took on the tone of a disappointed mother. "If Antonin wasn't here, then you would be dying in this war too. I owe him my life."

"More like he owes ye his," grumbled the giant and poked the small fire they had going in the cave instead of watching her walk over to him.

"How sure were you, _pchelka_ , that an impassioned speech would work on the giants?" He said, his fingers gently prodding at each rib he had healed "Or were we really that close to dying?"

"Really that close," she winced and coughed, trying to hide her small wheeze of pain as he poked one that wasn't fully healed. "but everyone understands death, even if they don't understand exploitation."

"You punctured a lung, if Severu-"

"Professor Snape with you lot then?" The giant interrupted and Antonin wondered if Hermione would be upset if he used a silencing charm on the blubbering creature ""They say he's the one who killed them, the Order does."

"You're in contact with the Order still?" Her eyes lit up, he could see the wheels turning in her head even as he tried to repair her ribs once more.

"'Arry is gonna be over t' moon to know yer safe." Hagrid held up a metal cup full of some kind of alcohol and laughed "Nothin' quite been the same without 'Ermione."

She sat next to him, her head bowed and Antonin knew that they had finally hit upon a sore topic, and like Rodolphus had done so many times before, he tried to take over with ease.

"You won't be telling anyone about her." Antonin said clearly "And if you try, I will tear out your tongue now."

"Antonin!" She was scandalized, "Hagrid is a friend."

Unlike Rodolphus, Antonin had no finesse. He sighed and tried again.

"She is dead for a good reason, and she can choose when she decides to live again. It's her choice and no one will take that away from her." He said with finality and peeked over at her but she was staring at Luna who was fast asleep on a transfigured cot.

"I do need you to pass some information to the Order, Hagrid, and I will ask that you not reveal the source." She said, her head was on her hand, she looked tired.

"Alrigh' then, let's hear it."

"Severus Snape is _not_ a traitor, he did not poison Dumbledore, and the Order should trust him because he is loyal, and he was Dumbledore's man through and through." She enunciated each word carefully and then yawned "It is important that they trust him, by trusting him they can and will win the war. Okay?"

"'Ermione I know ye' think the world of yer professors-"

Her expression grew stormy "I think the world of Severus Snape, the man, not my professor, and it is important that you leave now and relay this information to the Order."

"Righ' then." He got up but not by much, as he was taller than the cave itself "I will do this fer ye' as a favor then."

"Honestly," She huffed watching the giant exit the cave. "Severus was a pawn of Dumbledore's, the Headmaster used a good man and turned him against everyone in the world. Any idiot can see he was used, but why? He would eventually defect, if you beat a dog it doesn't come back after awhile." She looked up at Antonin.

"It is hard to see the forest for the trees."

She was looking out over the snowy mountain as the sun started to peek over the ridges, the snow glistening at dawn. "I used to think the Headmaster was infallible, but it's proof isn't it? That he had no idea."

"He was a foolish man, he was a Griffyndor man." Antonin drawled, realizing how silly it must sound to bring house rivalries back into it "and unlike you, thought that people were expendable."

"No one is expendable Antonin, I would lay down my life before I let someone die for me."

"I know, _pchelka_ , that much is obvious." He poked at her healing ribs and she hissed in pain. "Sleep, tomorrow...tonight is not far away."

When they laid down she burrowed herself deep into his robes, her soft body flush against him, her hair tickled his chin. She let out a contented sigh when his arms wrapped around her and pulled her tightly against him. He felt a tightness in his chest and for the first time he realized that the fire that he saw in her, the fire that he wished to possess was inside him, and it was burning him from the inside out.

" _Moya lyubov._ " He breathed and she hummed.

"Antonin."

He stayed up until her soft breathing evened out and she was fast asleep, he stayed up until the sun was high in the sky and the fire burned low. He stayed up to sort out the tightness in his chest and the meaning behind the way her soft fingers dug into his skin in a desperate sort of way. He too was desperate, and he too held her tightly, afraid of either of them moved that one might disappear.

It was because Antonin was afraid that he was awake to hear the voices outside of the cave. Voices that were too eloquent to belong to giants.

"Hagrid, you're sure it was her? Severus _explain_ , someone explain!" The voice was shrill and Antonin pulled Hermione up, panic seeping into his veins and turning his blood cold.

She made soft noises in his ear as she woke, her head lulling on his shoulder as he retreated past the sleeping forms of Luna and Rabastan, throwing up spell after spell, hoping that it was enough to keep them safe.

Giants did not keep secrets.

" _Pchelka_ ," His voice was a low rumble, and then he saw Severus at the mouth of the cave, they looked at eachother and a moment of understanding passed between them. "Wake up, _pchelka_ , we're about to have trouble."

"Mmmtonin, wha'?" She asked and shifted in his arms, raising her head and turning so her small nose brushed against his morning stubble. "Oh! Oh! Seve-"

"Not alone."

"Severus!" Antonin could recognize that exasperated voice anywhere and before he could let her down, Minerva McGonagall came into view, saw her former student and clutched her necklace. "Miss Granger!"

"Antonin! Antonin, let me down, wake Rabastan." She hit him and slid off of him, her robes bunching up slightly but then he felt the wash of a scourgify. "Severus, Professor McGonagall, _Hagrid_." This last name was said with annoyance, furniture began to pop up out of rocks and she grabbed the Prada bag that was sitting closest to a brand new wooden chair, pulling out some copper cups.

Severus, as was his wont, sat down as if this was the most normal tea party in the world, filling up the cups with aguamenti as she placed them, and gesturing for everyone to sit with him.

"Sit, please professors." She said giving Severus an annoyed look as he began to heat the cups with a mild warming charm "I suppose you'll have questions."

Antonin sat down next to her after kicking Rabastan's cot a few times, causing the younger LeStrange to roll over and curse him. "You made a promise, giant." Antonin's accent was thick in the morning, and he liked the way she gave him shy glances, her face reddening " _Ne davshi slova_ , don't make promises you cannot keep."

She passed a box of tea bags around to the table and started to steep her own, tugging on the thread nervously.

"This was the only way Hermione," Severus replied softly, side eying the giant as well "You must under-"

"I know, I mean I figured that like everything else, I'd have to give for this too."

"What do you mean _like everything else_? You...we all thought-"

"Does anyone else know?" Antonin cut off the old woman looking pointedly at Severus.

"No, we were the only two in the Headmaster's office when he decided to tell the _whole_ story." Severus replied.

"Leaving, conveniently out that I asked him not to reveal my identity of course, oh Hagrid, how could you." She sighed and finally pulled her tea bag out of her tea and laying it on the table. "Professor McGonagall, I would ask you keep this secret until I find the best time to reveal myself, if you agree, we can continue."

"The Giant stays." Antonin said and Rabastan padded over to the table, adding a chair for himself. "If you can't keep promises you're removed."

"Rabastan," Hermione greeted and looked him over carefully, the man did the same "and Luna?"

"...is not to be disturbed." Rabastan said fiddling with the box in slight confusion before she opened it for him "after yesterday we could all use some more rest, but I see that we're the ones who were disturbed."

"Enough! Enough! Someone needs to tell me what is going on _right now_." Professor McGonagall was fidgeting with her necklace but then withdrew her wand "Ok, fine, I promise, do we do a vow?"

"No vows." Severus, Rabastan and Antonin replied in unison.

Hermione laughed. "Right, where do I start? Oh, yes the Department of Mysteries."

She was very animated in some parts, and solemn at others, it was a story she had told a thousand times before it seemed, and she explained Dumbledore's death, and their mission to defeat the Dark Lord, why they were in the mountains of France, and the eventual battle of Hogwarts, and at that she was finished, and took a sip of her now cold tea. "Oh, and Headmaster Dumbledore told me to tell you that he was wrong about me."

Professor McGonagall's hands were shaking and grabbed the hand that was on Hermione's lap, Antonin felt a surge of possessiveness and touched her thigh, afraid that she'd be stolen.

"I had always known...I had always known you were the brightest witch of this age, but Miss Gr-no Hermione, I didn't _realize_ what that meant until today."

"No," Hermione admonished "I was lucky, that much is obvious." She gave Antonin a look, and he realized that she was talking about him.

"So," Professor McGonagall squeezed her hand "What can I do?"

She thought on this for a bit, sipping her tea while Rabastan spoke to Severus about healing potions, and what had happened with the giants, before long Severus asked to see her wounds specifically to which she winced.

"Antonin did well enough, I think."

"I am no healer." Antonin replied, shooting down her desperate play to get out of the poking and prodding of the potion's master, but she was hurt and he knew that a few basic healing charms were not going to be enough to get her through the negotiations with the giants.

Severus got up but she shook her head "Luna first, she still...she hasn't woken yet."

"Luna, and then you."

"Luna and then Rabastan and _then_ me." She countered

"Oi!" Rabastan seemed alarmed.

"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall had a cool tone that made the conversation still "If I may have a word alone?"

Hermione gave him a worried glance but did as she was told. It was that glance that he should have read into, because as she walked out the cave with her Professor it nagged at him, and after he felt the tug of her tracking charm as she was apparated away, it haunted him.


	25. Rescue & Recovery

Rodolphus LeStrange was a wreck when he got the news. Antonin, Severus and Rabastan were waiting in the foyer for him to come down. They decided that if they struck quickly, they could take out the Order and save the girl.

It repeated in his mind, Take out the Order. Save the girl. Apparate to somewhere warm. Take out the Order. Save the girl. Keep her safe. Take out the Order. Save the girl. Tell her your feelings. Antonin shook his head to get rid of the last thought.

Rodolphus came down the stairs quickly, stumbling over a few steps, his robes, and dropping his wand. "Hermione, take me to her." His eyes were wild and Antonin wondered if his looked the same, his heart was beating wildly in his chest but the mantra stemmed the madness, as it did in Azkaban, and so he repeated only those words, because his sanity was fraying and the tracking charm tugged on him painfully. He needed to go to her, he _needed_ to go to her.

Yaxley burst in the door breathlessly, spilling papers on the floor and tossing his coat over them. "Let's go, we have a damsel to save."

Antonin offered his arm out to the group, he didn't trust his voice, he didn't trust his thoughts, but Yaxley voiced them.

"Take out the Order and make sure Hermione is _safe_." He grabbed Antonin's wrist, and the rest followed suit, when Severus finally wrapped his lithe fingers against his bicep he closed his eyes, focusing on the pull of the location charm and apparated.

Antonin fell onto a beach, the waves crashed on the shore, the apparition was shaky at best, he had never transported so many people, his magic depleted, his body exhausted. He lay still, the breeze blowing sand back through his hair and over his skin. "Tonin?" it was Yaxley who pulled him up to his knees "You good?"

Antonin growled and stood up all the way to see the group staring at him "Too many people."

"I'll say." Severus drawled "Why not send an initial group and give us the location?"

"Fuck off." Rodolphus snapped "What if it was a dangerous situation? What if-"

"We're not at The Order headquarters," Severus looked around at the beach, the wind whipping through his hair, his robes wrapping around him as another wave crashed loudly on the shore. Rabastan took a few steps back to survey the situation. "Wherever this is."

"Let's go, she's close." Antonin closed his eyes, his magic was faint, the tug was faint, the sound of the ocean, the chilled air made it hard for him to concentrate. His thoughts were halfway in Azkaban already. He looked up and saw that he had missed the destination by only a few meters, for above them was a trail of smoke that most certainly belonged to the residence that she was being held at.

Yaxley pointed up and they all apparated at once.

Their apparition sounded like thunder and before them was a small cottage with a thatch roof and a billowing chimney. "Here," Antonin gestured "She's in here." At last the tug of the tracking charm had faded and he felt the loss of this artificial connection to her.

Yaxley's hand pressed against the shimmering wards and he looked back at Antonin who nodded,

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement, open up." His voice took on a deep professional tenor and he stepped back from the wards to allow them to drop.

The door opened immediately and a familiar face with red hair peeked out, the newly turned wolf stepped out on the small front porch of the cottage looking sheepish.

"I knew you'd arrive, she said you would." He held his hands behind his back "She doesn't say a lot, but she said that we were not safe as long as we had her."

Antonin withdrew his wand but a curse whizzed from behind before he even had a chance, it rippled against the wards but the wolf at the door looked unsurprised by the attack.

"Bring out the girl!" It was Rodolphus, he sounded desperate, how had the loss of one witch even temporarily hurt him so much? Antonin wondered how they had all gotten so dependent on her presence.

"We need her, I'm sorry gentlemen, it's for the greater go-"

"Damn your greater good! Bring out Hermione Granger before we get irritated." Rabastan snapped.

Antonin took two steps up to the wards again, touching the surface and feeling the burning static of the magic, Gringotts warding, his eyes flicked to the boy on the porch and he closed his eyes. Idiot boy, Gringotts wards were not particularly complicated to dismantle, it was the ancestral magic of the bank that kept them strong, not the warding itself. Ancestral magic of the land mingled with the goblin magic from the former mines, but that was not the case here.

He traced the runes of the wards with his finger against the buzzing wards, his arm tingling with the foreign magic and finally the pain began to lessen as the wards lost strength, and there was a laugh of Yaxley next to him.

"You know, mutt, that Dolohov was a curse breaker at Gringotts?" Yaxley's voice was tinged with excitement, a bloodlust that him an Antonin both shared "Do you know that Hermione is legally a LeStrange and we have every legal right to claim the old rites against the Weasley clan? Did you even know of the old rites?"

The old rites were hardly used anymore, but he knew that given the chance Rodolphus would claim them, there would not be a single Weasley left, Hermione was the only living heir to the LeStrange family now, and endangering her meant that they could kill every Weasley legally.

The wards dropped with ease and suddenly the Weasley boy looked worried. "I had to help Harry, she's the only way to win this war."

"Tough shit, dog." Rodolphus almost sounded primal as he growled " _Crucio."_

There was a howl of pain but Rodolphus held the curse as he walked closer, Bill Weasley was curled into a small ball, his muscles twitching as he was enveloped in red light. "She trusted you. She saved you. She nursed you back to health, and you betrayed her. Kindness is repaid with kindness, betrayal is repaid by _me_."

He stepped over the body and went inside, Antonin could see the bright red of the curse and the screams within. Rodolphus was the patriarch of one of the twenty eight, and their power was ancient, it was at times like this that he realized why the LeStranges were in the inner circle despite keeping their hands clean.

Yaxley followed, nudging the wheezing and twitching body out of his way. "Idiot."

He stayed close to Yaxley who stupefied bodies as he walked into the cottage, bodies were strewn around the cottage floor, more redheads, some others that looked familiar from the Ministry. There was shouting in the kitchen but it was not Hermione. Instead, there was the familiar voice of Harry Potter roaring about Death Eaters and shouting useless curses.

The kitchen of the cottage was small and crowded. She was pale and shaking, hunched over in a knotted wooden chair with a hand over her mouth breathing heavily. Rodolphus was edging his way over to her, parts of the cabinets blown apart as Harry Potter, another red headed wizard and a lanky dark haired boy he remembered from the Department of Mysteries stood huddled against the back wall.

"Traitor!" Harry roared as Severus stepped into the already crowded kitchen.

Hermione looked up and her eyes were glassy. She tried to focus on Antonin, but her eyes slid sideways to see Severus, with her free hand she held up two fingers in a V shape and lurched forward as if she was about to be sick. She turned away, retching even though nothing came out, a sickening dry noise that made Antonin's jaw clench, his magic cracked and a few cabinets flew open.

"I'll kill you both," Antonin's voice was thick with his Russian accent, his teeth gritted as he tried to keep his temper. He couldn't frighten her, he didn't want her to know what he was like. "Explain, you have thirty seconds."

"You lot cursed my family, we don't owe you shit." The red head jeered and jabbed his wand out in front of him, his hand shook "Leave before...before you really regret it."

The red headed boy suddenly went back against the wall and passed out. "Check on her Severus." Rodolphus commanded. "Don't move Potter or I'll finish our Lord's work for him."

Potter moved, the first motion in a curse Antonin knew well, Avada Kedavra, and perhaps he didn't need to put so much power behind it, because when Potter flew back against the wall, the horsehair drywall fell inward, the floral wallpaper tearing and falling down on him.

"I told them not to." The third boy whined "they didn't listen to Hermione and they didn't listen to me."

"Do shut up Longbottom." Severus snapped and strode across the room where she was dry heaving. "It's clearly an overdose, what did they give you?"

She looked up at them with tears rolling down her face, and held up an empty vial. Veritaserum.

"How long ago?" He insisted, tossing the vial, it fell with a shatter on the kitchen floor "An hour?"

She held up two fingers again. He shook his head and pulled out a vial containing a stone, bezoar. "The effects will last, the sickness will not."

When he uncorked it and she turned away to start retching again. She reached one hand behind her and took the vial, knocking it back.

"Antonin," she whined "I don't want you to see me like this."

It hurt, but he knew it was the truth,

"Come now, pchelka, I have seen you at much worse."

"Leave them," her voice was hoarse and she was clawing at her stomach through her robes. " _Leave them_."

Antonin picked her up, cradling her gently in his arms. She made small cries of pain that turned his gut inside out. There was no helping her after the beozar, an overdose of any potion would have to work it's way out of her system. He wanted to take the pain like he took the sectumsempra, but his hand found it's way into her hair, and he muttered sweet nothings to her in Russian, cooed at her like his mother did when he was ill, and eventually, her sobs of pain quieted, and they disapparated.

* * *

She was afraid to speak, Rodolphus was afraid to let her out of his sight, and Antonin was afraid the silence would drive him mad. When she spoke she could only speak truthfully. The Order had held her against her will for hours questioning her. Everything that she feared came true, but they did not know about the people who were helping her. She would drift in and out of sleep, the sickness taking its toll on her body. Severus mended her ribs correctly and checked for any other signs of damage done during the botched envoy to the Giants,

"Winty, I want tea." Her words were measured carefully "and biscuits, oh you know the ones."

The elf who had been waiting for something to do brightened instantly

"I told you it was stupid to trust the wolf and the giant." Antonin groused from the foot of the bed.

The scent of tea made her sick, she was retching over the side of the bed, Rodolphus rubbing her back soothingly while every other man in the room looked uncomfortable. " _Fuck_." She swore again "There's nothing left in me, the beozar...how long?"

"A few hours," Severus said beside the fire, thumbing through a potions journal "The fact that you stayed lucid at all during an overdose is a feat all it's own."

She curled up into a ball, shivering underneath the blankets, her face buried in her hands as Rodolphus tried to soothe her, but it took her curling up against Antonin, her face pushed up against his thigh for her to finally fall asleep. It was only when her soft breathing evened out, her shivers quelled into shakes every so often, that Antonin spoke.

"How much did she reveal?" He asked the room.

"It is not her that we should be worried about," Severus was the first to respond "The mutt, the giant, McGonagall. They all know of her now, and by extension: us."

"We're at the end now." Yaxley replied next to Severus "This is it, what's a few more in on a secret that was going to get out anyways?"

"The end is _precisely_ why we need to be careful." Severus snapped "This is when everything needs to be right. I am most likely not the only spy in The Order."

"Let's kill them all, and that little fucker Potter too. She's risked her life time and time again, bled for the little bastard, and he tries to poison her with Veritaserum?" Rodolphus was livid, he was fidgeting with his wand in the bed, Antonin felt the rage in his blood, he pushed some hair away from Hermione's face instead.

"He's not a clever martyr that's for sure." Severus snorted "Yet he's all we've got according to the prophecy."

"Damn the prophecy!" Rodolphus roared and stood up, Hermione rolled over onto her back and whined. "What about the rest of us? What about her? How the _fuck_ are we going to get out of this war alive if we're placing all of our bets on a teenage boy that can't even trust his own friends? Hiding out in some shack on the beach with a bunch of paranoid _Weasley's_ and some kid that looked like he was going to wet himself at the sight of you, Severus?"

Severus let out a puff of air that sounded suspiciously like laughter, Antonin summoned the bottle of firewhiskey that made it's shaky journey over to him, his magic was depleted still, even wandless spells were barely functional.

"The only way out of this," Antonin said, uncorking the bottle "is to create a diversion."

"A diversion." Rodolphus sat down again, staring at the wall "Why a diversion?"

"The Order needs to be kept busy, too busy to care about Hermione Granger." Antonin continued, looking at Yaxley pointedly.

"And _what_ could possibly tear them away from the Gryffindor Golden Girl?" Severus drawled.

"The Ministry of Magic." Yaxley piped up "You saw how much faith they had in the institutions, Hogwarts, Gringotts, what if we take the institutions away?"

"Our Lord already runs the Ministry." Rodolphus said, sliding back on the bed with a quiet murmur to Hermione as she groaned in pain "Sorry, love."

"What if _no one_ was running the Ministry?" Antonin asked "They'd be too busy trying to gain control over it to bother with her, to bother with any of us. They believe in the institutions, let them have one."

"You're telling me we need to kill the Minister of Magic?" Yaxley's voice held that same excitement, the bloodlust that Antonin knew well.

"I'll throw in that maddening Umbridge woman." Antonin raised the bottle to Yaxley.

"Fair enough, alright, let's go then." Yaxley stood up.

"Patience," Severus warned "We wait, we wait until the girl is better, and then we plan. Overthrowing the Ministry of Magic is not something we should take lightly."

"Spoilsport." Yaxley plopped down on the chair "So, we wait then."

"We wait, and we plan." Severus replied and raised his glass full of firewhiskey.

She woke up often, the same sickness and fever rushing her to the bathroom, the soft mewls of pain wafted through the door. She couldn't swallow any pain potion, she only could brokenly call his name. Waiting to divert The Order was hard, but waiting for her sickness to pass was harder.

Antonin stroked her hair as she slept on his lap on the bathroom floor, citing the cool marble of the floors being her only respite. He nodded off, his head back against the hanging towels, his fingers tangled in her curls.

* * *

She looked like death the next day, but had finally gotten up enough to eat, Luna was leaving for home soon, and so while she looked ill, Luna and by extension Rabastan joined them at breakfast.

Luna was encouraging her to eat, and Antonin would nudge her into at least trying the overly fancy breakfast that the elves had laid out to celebrate her. A few pieces of toast finally gave way to some fruits and tea, and then a rather childish plate of scrambled eggs put them all at ease. Her voice was hoarse as she spoke, but she knew it was important to speak at all.

"Professor McGonagall said that they needed a strategist, and with Dumbledore dead that the Order had lost it's head, and was unable to make any movements, Harry is so...he's so unstable, I don't understand." She got quiet for a minute "When Bill explained where he had seen me last, what I had asked him to do, who I was with, they had a vial of Veritaserum, and they said they trusted me, but they needed to be sure I was who I said I was."

"Which _idiot_ poured the whole vial into your mouth?" Severus asked with a little more venom than necessary.

She ate her eggs mechanically and sighed. "That was my fault, I told them the correct dosing instructions, but Ron just _feeds_ his paranoia, and because I asked for so little, they gave it all, there was no harm, right?" She laughed weakly "More potion means more honesty, right?"

"You must be joking," Rodolphus replied "No one _really_ believes that."

She shook her head and smiled "Neville...poor Neville I don't even understand why he's with Harry and Ron, they must be dragging him around as a moral compass because he recognized the signs of an overdose right away, he tried to help, he tried Dittany, but...you know Dittany doesn't work on overdoses, only beozar. I didn't reveal anything, but I hardly needed to, with Hagrid and Bill there it was all laid out already, but the _why_ was supposed to happen with the Veritaserum. There was no way to get it out of me, I couldn't stop being sick."

"Fools," Antonin said beside her "All of us, we were fools to trust them." He cursed under his breath.

"However, I have learned there are seven horcrux, three remaining, the snake, Harry, which we knew, and the diadem of Ravenclaw." She reached under the table "And, in a misguided display of loyalty, I have this." The small Prada bag came out onto the table and she yanked out a shimmering fabric "A gift, from Bill Weasley."

"The cloak." Rodolphus picked it up first, his whole arm disappearing. " _The cloak_."

"I don't think he expected me to be able to leave after I had arrived, but here I am." She laughed bitterly "He gave it to me and told me that he repaid his life debt to me, not that I ever asked to take one."

"A lot of people are in debt to you, Hermione." Severus said softly.

"We are now, gentlemen, the masters' of death." She said eating another forkful of eggs "but I don't want to figure out what that means until we find the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Narcissa believes the snake is the last horcrux, and I don't want to make her a liar." She let out a shuddering sigh "I have to go back to the giants, I have to finish negotiations."

"You're in _no_ health-" Antonin started.

"I won't be in _any_ health if we let the giants become pawns of the Dark Lord and we lose the war." She snapped, obviously irritated at her own weakness "We go back this afternoon, and make our apologies. We need to finish what we started."

"Any idea on the diadem?" Yaxley asked with a mouthful of croissant.

She shook her head. "I suppose the first place we should look is Hogwarts, since it is a Ravenclaw heirloom."

"I may have an idea if I can rope Lucius into a visit this afternoon." Severus added "I'll owl him, but Hermione-"

She held her hand out across the table to where he was sitting "Give them to me then."

He dug around in his black robes and procured another three vials "Pain, Nausea, Pepper Up"

She closed her hands around the vials and smiled at him gratefully. "Diadem please."

"Greedy little thing." Yaxley said as she slipped the vials into her bag.

"She's a LeStrange." Rodolphus replied proudly.

Hermione did not argue.

"There is one...other matter, though." Yaxley ventured carefully "about the Ministry."

She looked up from her bag and shot Antonin a shrewd look. "Your idea?" She asked.

" _Malyushka,_ I can explain."

* * *

"It must look like infighting." She said finally, after Antonin was done explaining his plan and they had adjourned to the library, there was a familiar fire in her eyes, one that he realized she had lacked lately. "If we are to take out two faithful Death Eaters it _must_ look like infighting."

"That's easy enough to stage," Yaxley agreed thoughtfully "but over what?"

She licked her lips and closed her eyes for a moment. "What would the Order want? What would the Dark Lord believe that the Order wants?"

It would be hard to trick the Dark Lord, that was to be sure, and even harder to trick the Order, but Rodolphus took no time in turning to him. "Our Lord gave you a task to make sure something was still protected-"

"Not that ruddy old thing." Yaxley moaned "Why didn't the Dark Lord know it was a fake anyways? Surely a horcrux has some kind of…"

"You don't believe that our Lord would _fall_ for that." Antonin replied "It's clearly a fake, we _saw_ the real one, you can feel it!"

"He will never see it in person, only hear enough about it to know what it was." Rodolphus insisted "A horcrux! The Potter Boy was looking for them, our Lord knows the power they hold is desirable, it's the perfect match."

She opened her eyes again "The locket must be a gift to Umbridge, she must be seen wearing it in public for a few days, then we can...we can overthrow the Ministry. Yaxley you must make sure your aurors come in contact with Umbridge at least once, and then when we make a move, Severus, you will have to inform the Order. The last part, of course, is the hardest, because they don't trust any of us now."

"It can be arranged, anything can be arranged." Severus replied before sitting back in his chair "If Yaxley does his part, The Order will be ready to rob their graves before we finish staging the scene."

"So who is the gift horse?" Yaxley asked.

"The only people she'd accept gifts from: the LeStrange brothers."

* * *

"They're not the same," She said, buttoning up her shirt in the bedroom, he tried not to look, but he caught glimpses of her scars, one of which trailed all the way up her body, he hated how much he loved seeing his marks on her.

"Who's not?" He asked from the bed.

"The Order, they're not the same, they're not _good_." She looked back over her shoulder at him and he noticed the hurt in her eyes so he stopped his appraisal of her body.

"You have much to learn about the _good_ , _malyushka_." Antonin got off the bed, pocketing the locket, coming up behind her as she slid on her heavy velvet robes, dark blue like the night sky.

"I'd like to think what I'm doing is good." She said turning back to him but instead he stopped her, turning her back towards the mirror. "Antoni-what?"

"A moment." He asked, and she stood, fidgeting awkwardly in front of him in the mirror.

She was something regal now, he remembered her hissing and spitting at Lucius Malfoy in his own dungeon, covered in her own blood, bathed in moonlight, his first impression of her was that of a caged animal, the fire in her eyes called to his own. Now, she leaned back into him, her bushy hair tied into a low ponytail, her amber eyes were staring at his in the mirror.

Oh and how Antonin _looked_ his age now, his sallow cheeks from Azkaban had filled out only some, giving him harsh lines and wrinkles that were more evident now in the dawn that by candlelight, his black hair had only a few natural waves, longer and unkempt along with his five o'clock shadow that was starting to turn grey, his eyes had a haunted look, and his body was still thin from imprisonment, his robes hanging off of him awkwardly.

His Hermione was obviously doing the same thing he was, because when she spoke, she spoke about his appearance. "I like the way you look." She said, her voice tiny "I think it's very _noble_."

He turned away from the mirror, but this time she stopped him, her fingers tugged at the fabric of his sleeve. "Do you...do you think we look good together?"

Did he tell her the truth? That she deserved a man with money, with heritage, _her age_ rather than an ex-con, ex-pat, ex-death eater that was actually older than her own father? He looked away from the mirror and down at her. She had an uncertainty in her eyes that twisted his insides.

" _Krasivaya_." The Russian came out of him so naturally, it was a hoarse whisper. He would have never thought of Russian as a coward's language, but how could he tell her things that he himself did not understand?

She bit her lip and looked away "Antonin, why do you _do_ that? I don't speak Russian yet, what did you say?"

His hand came around her wrist and he pulled her close to him, tucking her into him. He couldn't look her in the eye, but he could tell her again " _Krasivaya_."

Her voice was muffled against his body, her hands unsure came around him. "Antonin."

He kissed her on the top of her head and closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of her hair. " _Krasivaya_."

It was then that he caught the two of them in the mirror, and realized that they _did_ look good together.

"I hope it means something good." She mumbled "I hope-"

"You have much to learn about the good, _moya lyubov_."

"This is good."

"It is." He replied, and in the silence, he tried to quell the storm of thoughts inside of him by replacing each one with her name, and only hers.


	26. The Family Magic

She had steam coming out of her ears as they reached the summit of the mountain again, a pepper up got her all the way to the top, Antonin could only get her halfway. His magic was still weak from the rescue attempt, and so when they apparated halfway up the slopes, sliding down into a bramble bush, instead of in the valley between the mountains, he felt anger towards himself for being so weak when she had to constantly be strong.

He picked another bramble off of her blue robes that was now billowing with the high winds at the peak and stood beside her looking down over the valley of giants, their fires dim compared to the bright sunlight that almost blinded them as it reflected off the white snow.

"I don't know if I can do this." She said looking down at the valley, her arms wrapped around her for warmth "We have no offerings, they don't really-"

"You can do this." Antonin cut her off, stepping closer to shield her from the wind.

She looked up at him and offered him a shy smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, if my magic can get us there." He turned away, his face reddening at his inadequacy.

A frown and her brows knitted together in thought before she slipped her hand into his. "I think, I mean I've only read about this, but it's worth a try?"

" _Malyshka_ -" He warned but then there was a heat that flared up between their hands. He tried to pull away but she grabbed him tighter, the warmth became like a small fire licking at his palm and then cooled off before flaring up again.

Her eyes were closed, her hair got that familiar blue crackle, the air around her seemed to warp, like on a hot summer's day. "Stop moving, Antonin."

"Explain yourself, girl." He barked angrily as the fire got even more intense, stinging as it burnt through his skin and muscle, hitting every nerve, and then she squeezed her eyes tighter, lines appearing on her forehead.

The fire suddenly went from between their hands and to up his arm, going from intense flame to a firewhiskey type warmth that coursed through his veins. He realized he had forgotten to breathe while analyzing the feeling, and in the briefest moments she pulled away from him violently, falling back into the snow with a small " _oof_."

He opened his eyes, struggling to remember when he had closed them to see a bright smile on her face, and she laughed. "Did you feel it Antonin?"

"Feel what? _What did you do_?"

"That was my magic, your magic accepted mine!" She held her hand out again, but he was too busy inspecting his own. "I gave you some."

"Some _what_?" He didn't know whether to be amazed or angry at her. He had a feeling he knew exactly what she had given him, and it was not something any witch would just _offer_ up.

"Some magic, you needed it, and I had it, and our magics were compatible once you stopped _moving_."

His hand was not burnt despite the aching raw tenderness of his palm and he looked at the girl, _his girl_ , sitting in a snow drift who was having her own celebration. " _Malyshka_ , do not _ever_ do that again, I don't need your help, and I certainly do not want you doing something so dangerous again."

Her joyous mood vanished as quickly as it had come, her brows knitted together now in confusion. "It wasn't dangerous, I was with you."

"Normal witches do not share _magic_ with strange old men who kidnap them." He barked "It's a familial magic, and only as a last resort, not as some kind of pepper up potion to be used as you see fit!"

"The book didn't say anything about it being a family only thing! It's not a last resort if used properly! It was my first time, honestly!" She huffed and started down the other side of the mountain "You've done so much for me over the past few days, I just wanted to return the favors you insufferable man."

He shoved his hands in his pocket, mad that she thought to do something so dangerous so remotely, mad that he couldn't convey to her how dangerous it really was, and mad that he couldn't just tell her that he was _worried_. He came up behind her as she trudged down the path that winded down the mountainside and scooped her up. Her shriek punctuated their apparition and then they were at the bottom of the mountain before the giants.

* * *

There was no word for _cowering_ in her dictionary, and as they stood before the Chief of the Giants who was amused by her ramrod straight posture, her defiant chin, and her loud voice.

"I beseech you now, knowing that the call you answer from a wizard will be your last, is this how the history of the giants will end?" Her voice was barely a whisper compared to the response.

"And muggleborns? They refuse?" The Chief's voice boomed.

"Muggleborns are currently being registered under his regime, given numbers and being reduced to cattle. Muggleborn registration was the first act in a measure against minority magical beings. We are the first, the weakest, and we will not be the last." She replied unfurling a copy of the Prophet from Christmas "They attempted to register werewolves before us, citing them as a danger, to tag and track, and to eventually kill."

The paper was about as big as the giant's hand, and he could not read but instead stared at the photos of a smiling Dolores Umbridge waving to the press for a few moments.

"This is not the wizard we serve." He said tossing the paper.

Hermione tried to catch it before it hit the snow, she failed, the ink running as it got wet. "You know of Rufus Scrimgeour though." She said picking it up and casting a drying charm, and then a reparo before pulling out a second newspaper clipping and this time enlarging it "Who approved both werewolf and muggleborn registration."

She held it high over her head and the chief giant plucked it from her fingers.

"This man I know." He looked down at her appreciatively "You, muggleborn, have warned us of a trap. We will listen to your warning and feast tonight in your honor."

She looked back at Antonin with a bright smile on her face, her cheeks red from the cold, her teeth a dazzling white, and her eyes danced with light. "A feast, yeah?"

Antonin hummed in agreement "A feast."

The fires burned brightly that night, every so often a giant would bang drums that made the trees shake, and Hermione would get startled by the sudden loud noises and cling to him, afraid it was something exploding. They sat together on a log that was gifted to her as a seat by the very giant who broke her ribs as an apology.

"His name," She explained patting the log "is Grawp and he's related...somehow to Hagrid, I'm not sure how, it's hard to understand, they're woefully uneducated, half giants get shunted out of society, and full giants…" She waved it off "I just don't understand why we cannot integrate all these magical beings into society with wizards and witches. They would be less dangerous if they weren't shunted out in the first place. Separation causes paranoia, and paranoia is why we're in this mess in the first place."

"Hagrid is that giant who can't keep his mouth shut?" Antonin asked.

"Yes," She sighed and looked down at her hands "He was always unable to keep a secret, which is how I knew about Dumbledore's plans, but also, I suppose it backfired."

"You're too trusting."

"I am."

"You're too soft."

"I am."

"I like that."

She blushed prettily and looked away. "Good."

"You have much to learn about _the_ good."

She laughed now "I do. I do."

He mulled over her words about paranoia for a bit as they were served "small things" which ended up being rabbit. According to the chief giant, humans liked small things because they themselves were small. He now had two very dead rabbits that were not cooked or skinned.

"We'll just not eat, I think." She said looking at the corpses of the fluffy winter bunnies with aversion "It was a thoughtful gift." She added but turned away as Antonin placed them on the ground.

She was invited to dine with the Chief, at a table that she could not see the top of with a pile of torched goat and deer that had been collected and stacked morbidly on the wood that was only trees that had been halved and tied together crudely. Antonin watched her carefully, afraid that this diplomatic dinner would be broken with one wrong word. Giants seemed to be an untrustworthy sort, and the one that had betrayed her now sat at this crude chief table with her, speaking amicably despite his words leading her to being kidnapped. There was a tussle as she asked the Chief to keep the half-giant, Hagrid, within the valley, but as soon as Antonin got up, the matter was resolved. He would stay. He was no match for the Chief of the Giants.

Eventually the war stories died off, and the fires quelled, and her tiredness became more than just yawns, when the chief fell asleep he woke her up as well. "Time to go, _moya lyubov_ , it is late."

They walked in tired silence out to the edge of the campsite, he tugged her along, but eventually, in frustration, picked her up, her head resting on his shoulder. "It's been hard." She said, her voice slurred from sleep "It's been so hard."

"I will take it from here, _maylushka_." He said, his hand holding her head down on his shoulder as he walked underneath branches "Let me take care of you."

"Antonin," her voice was a whisper now "promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

She was flipping through a Harrod's catalog with Yaxley the next day, half asleep over a cup of coffee as Severus and Rodolphus were brewing, Rabastan and Luna had left to go see her father before she returned to Hogwarts, leaving the house devoid of the warmth that the happy couple created.

The house elves were busy cleaning up the last remnants of Christmas, but the quartet stayed in the Great room that Hermione studiously avoided. It had switched from Christmas hymns to soft chamber music that somehow made it's way into the kitchen between the rhythmic chopping of the two potion brewers.

"This one is nice." Yaxley said as she stared at a page for a little too long.

"Does it say, virginal vampire-envoy?" She said tapping her finger on the model's lowcut dress "I just want something simple."

Antonin settled himself at the table, requesting another cup of coffee "Have you given up on the poor muggles of Harrod's _malyshka_?"

"Rodolphus has agreed to give Yaxley _money_ for anything I wanted, and Yaxley has agreed to _pay_ for it." She said looking at him seriously "Right, Yaxley?"

"Right, love, but I still think-"

She flipped the page. Yaxley gave Antonin and apologetic look.

"What about this one?" She pointed at a modest white dress with the soft blue that Antonin loved, it tied just beneath her chest, the cut was low, but not too low, it was soft and it was _her_.

Yaxley ho-hummed it but she looked up at Antonin shyly and he gave her the barest hints of a smile. She lit up at his approval.

"This is the one, this is it."

"While I'd hate to interrupt your _shopping_ _date_ Miss Granger, you have aconite to deal with."

"The black one, love. The bla-"

"Antonin said he liked the white on-"

"Fuck what Antonin-"

"Yax!"

"The black one! It's divine."

She sighed and rolled her eyes, sliding away from the table and moving to the countertop where Rodolphus was busy measuring some powder.

Antonin liked to watch her work, her fingers were sure as she smoothed over the ingredients, chopping with precision and speed as she slid them over to Rodolphus who measured them. Severus seemed to trust her well enough with ingredients, never hovering over her as she worked, talking with her as a colleague instead of a student. Was there anything Hermione couldn't do?

"What was our little dove like in school, Severus?" Yaxley asked, now flipping through the catalog himself.

"Insufferable." Severus said, dumping a board of ingredients into the cauldron "And _furry_."

"Severus!" She shrieked suddenly turning back to Antonin looking beet red "No one was supposed to _know_."

"Furry?" Rodolphus said beside her. "Furry _how_."

She stepped back from the counter "Don't you _dare_."

"A mix up, perhaps, between a human hair and a _cat hair_ may have happened during a impromptu polyjuice party?"

She groaned and buried her face in her hands. "No one was supposed to know, Madam Promfrey promised."

Rodolphus gave a small snort of laughter.

"Who do you think brewed the curative that restored you without your _bushy tail_." Severus was doing his best to hold back laughter.

She made a whining noise and walked back over to the table burying her face in the magazine. Antonin patted her head reassuringly.

"All this time I've been calling you little dove, when I should have been calling you kitten instead." Yaxley remarked, tugging the catalog out from underneath her.

"Yaxley, fuck off."

"Of course kitten."

Even Antonin had to laugh at that.

* * *

She was reading through a book on Vampire Etiquette when they discussed the downfall of the Ministry of Magic, Lucius and Narcissa sat close together across from the crowded loveseat that had Antonin, Yaxley, and Hermione. Rodolphus and Severus were lazily playing a game of chess, half heartedly telling stories of their school days and Hermione's as she thumbed through the pages.

"So, when?" Severus finally asked "When do we distract the Order?"

"Now is as good as ever." Yaxley said "Kill the bitch and make my life easier."

"With that kind of attitude you're going to die in the process." Hermione said flipping another page "How many days has it been since we gave Umbridge the locket? Has anyone seen it?"

"Three days." Rodolphus floated her a neatly folded copy of the prophet that had Dolores Umbridge waving at a crowd, flashbulbs illuminating the locket worn around her neck.

DECREASE IN CRIME LINKED TOWARDS TOUGHER LAWS ON MAGICAL CREATURES.

"Surely the Order would have put two and two together by now, Severus." She said flipping the prophet to show him the photo "Yaxley?"

Severus hummed in agreement, moving a pawn forward "They believe that it is the horcrux that Dumbledore had told the Potter boy about."

"And the diadem?" She asked.

"I am arranging an inventory of _heirlooms_ within Hogwarts now that the board of Governors has control over the school in absence of a headmaster. It's pedantic enough to be overlooked by anyone but someone who knows that we're looking for something." Lucius chimed in "Everyone underestimates good bureaucracy."

"If it exists in Hogwarts, an inventory will find it, the house elves know the locations of objects and will produce a list on request." Severus elaborated.

"Won't the Dark Lord be suspicious?" She asked, now looking up from her book "I mean if we call for an inventory-"

"He believes we are taking inventory for another reason, it seems Dumbledore was in possession of a very important _wand_ that went missing after his death." Severus said, now paying more attention to the conversation than the game. "Which means we need a favor from a wandmaker."

"A favor I can procure." Rodolphus added "To make a replica of the wand, if I can borrow it, Hermione."

She got up from between Antonin and Yaxley and went over to a chest of drawers that contained all three hallows in special cases she had crafted out of wood. "Anything that is mine, is yours...all of you." She lifted the wand out of the case and looked at it critically.

"I will have to disarm you." Rodolphus said "Or the wand will reject me."

"It's fine." She gave him a wan smile "Go easy on me, yeah?"

Rodolphus got up and so did Antonin, Yaxley, and Severus. Rodolphus withdrew his wand and the group surrounded them.

"Is this wise?" Antonin asked, eying the elder wand. Was it wise to give Rodolphus ownership of the most powerful wand ever made? Could any of them be trusted?

Hermione looked up from the wand and narrowed her eyes "The minute we stop trusting each other is the minute this whole group falls apart. All we have is trust. I trust everyone in this room with my life."

"She's right." Yaxley agreed "We have to trust one another. I feel the same."

"Disarm me, Rodolphus." She said holding the wand out and closing her eyes.

" _Expelliarmus_." He said quietly but she was not disarmed. The spell fizzled out before it left. "Cursed family magic is preventing me from disarming you. _Expelliarmus!_ " He waved his wand with more force and then she went flying backwards into a waiting Antonin.

Antonin held her against him and the wand sailed across the air and into Rodolphus hand, but he seemed uninterested in the wand, pocketing it and rushing over to her. "You're okay?"

She nodded and stood up on her own two feet "Tell me about the family magic."

The tension in the room surrounding Antonin's mistrust seemed to dissipate, and Rodolphus looked relieved that she wasn't upset with the force behind his curse. "Lucius can help explain family magic with me, it's his specialty."

"Lucius has a specialty?"

Lucius scoffed and turned his nose up.

"Lucius knows many things, but humility is not one of them." Narcissa said, scooting over so that Hermione could sit next to her "Let us tell you about the old magic, the magic that we sought to protect in the first place."

Narcissa held her hand when they talked and Antonin realized how desperate the purebloods were to accept her now that she had been adopted by Rodolphus, it was common knowledge among the group, one that irked both Hermione and Antonin. However now, settled between the man that adopted her into his family, and another set of pureblood nobility, she looked like she had been born into it all along. She wore luxurious family robes, her hair was tamed into a low bun with a hairpin of a lion cub playing, a gift from Rabastan and Luna. She had a serious air about her, but every so often she would break away from the conversation to give him a look for askance. _Is this okay? Am I okay?_ Her insecurities were so obvious now.

"The original Malfoy's founded Malfoy manor on the intersection of four leylines in England, which is why many muggles have not tried to settle on the land. It offered our ancestors a protection from persecution, while amplifying our magic. This is where ancestral magic is concentrated, a gift from the earth itself." Lucius said and gestured to the room around them "LeStrange Manor only has three, you can feel them in the house now that you are attuned to the magic, if you are attuned, it's a warming feeling, the family magic should mesh with your own, replenishing you, protecting you. It's why Rodolphus could not disarm you, it's why your healing magic is more potent in the house than in the field. It should supplement your own, as was our ancestor's need. This..." Lucius looked down at his hands on his lap.

"This," Narcissa picked up "is what we have sought to protect, ancestral magic is a lost knowledge, many people would and still do use it to supplement their magic, not for healing or safety, but to attack others. The Dark Lord uses Malfoy Manor as his stronghold due to our leylines, our family magic is older than most, which means many wizarding families have some Malfoy in them already and can use our leylines, our ancestral magic, as they wish. If you have the magic within you, it recognizes it, and you can tap into that ancient power. If the Order ever decided to attack Malfoy Manor, they would lose. Death Eaters, purebloods, they can use ancestral magic as a weapon."

"Is it possible to see it?" Hermione asked, looking around the room, she could only see the portraits staring at her from the walls. "The leylines, I mean, how can you tell if you cannot see them?"

"Rodolphus could-" Narcissa began.

"Close your eyes for a minute, dear." Rodolphus said and did the same, extending his hand so that his index finger rested between her eyes.

Her body went tense and Antonin went to get up but Yaxley stopped him.

"Open them." Rodolphus said, putting his hand on his lap and looking at her expectantly.

She did, slowly, almost sleepily and then she looked around, her eyes scanning the room for something, and then suddenly she saw it when she looked down at herself. "Oh!"

"Go to the window, it's easier to see outside. It's easier to understand." Lucius said and gestured to the windows on the far side of the library, but by the time he had motioned to them she was gone in a flutter of fabric, rushing to the huge windows that illuminated the entire room.

"Oh. Oh! Rodolphus, it's everywhere! I can see it!" She looked back at them, awe clearly written on her face "This...this is magic!" She gestured to the air.

Rodolphus laughed "Yes, my dear, this is magic."

"It's in me, it's in you, I can see it in everyone." She darted back across the room and then she was gone.

Lucius frowned "What does she mean she can see it in everyone? The spell should only show her the family magic."

"If she's considerably powerful-" Narcissa began.

"But she's a muggleborn. Impossible." Lucius said standing up to find out where she had gone "Hermione!"

She was outside in the gardens, trying to touch something Antonin could not see. Lucius and Rodolphus were following after her peppering her with questions, but she was too caught up in the moment to give them clear answers. Finally, Narcissa stopped her husband from asking anymore and Hermione was left to her own devices. Antonin liked the way she rushed around to see more and more of the garden blanketed under the white snow, footprints left behind as she disappeared from view.

"This," Lucius said "This is the kind of feeling I wanted to protect, do you remember, Rodolphus, the first time you got to see the family magic?"

"I do, I do. It was just like this." He was smiling, they would catch glimpses of Hermione as she wandered deeper into the gardens, trailed by Yaxley.

"When did it become so _twisted_ , when did it become more than just keeping our land?" Lucius kicked some snow away, crossing his arms. "It was supposed to be about defending what was ours, and instead my family is being torn apart as a madman takes over England."

"She made me realize that long ago." Rodolphus said, her laughter cut through the winter air. "As I taught her our ways, I began to see that I wasn't following them any longer. She was such an outsider. She was supposed to be nothing, and now look at her."

"She's changed." Antonin said.

"We all have." Narcissa replied "She was just the catalyst."

* * *

"Tomorrow then." She said finally as they sat down for dinner after an exciting afternoon. "Tomorrow after breakfast, we take care of the Ministry of Magic."

" _We_? Are you coming along?" Yaxley asked as the house elves began to serve the soup course.

She shook her head "What's the plan?"

"Imperio Scrimgeour, send a notice for Umbridge to meet with him, kill 'em both, stage the scene, notify the Kingsley that there has been a breakin in the Ministry, leave."

" _You_ shouldn't notify anyone," Severus said "You need an alibi, we all do."

"Then Hermione will give us an alibi at the Leaky Cauldron, modify Tom's memory and we'll have been there for hours. We meet there, disperse, and meet there again when we are done, with the wand to button up the alibi. The wand and the inventory."

"That means I have to be part of the memory, I have to come along for the beginning and stay until the end, and there's a limit on what I can modify, if we begin at day, we must be back while it's still daylight out. So three to four hours at the most."

"Can we duplicate a wand, inventory Hogwarts, find a horcrux and destroy the Ministry in four hours?" Rodolphus asked the table.

"We have to. We have to have everything set to rights before we meet with the vampires." Hermione said "We have a little over a month now before the final battle, Severus is right, now is the time we need to be the most careful, can we do it in four hours?"

"The inventory should not take more than an hour or so, once we get the inventory we can get the diadem." Lucius said gesturing to Severus "Severus has promised to keep McGonagall busy while I fetch the diadem."

"Antonin and I can take care of Dolores and Scrimgeour in twenty minutes, but staging the fight is going to take longer. It'll be a stretch, but...we need to have the Order notified before the authorities."

"Unless the Order is the authorities." Antonin added "Make sure that Kingsley man is stuck doing paperwork, make him the first responder. He'd take the locket."

"Kingsley and Nymphadora." Yaxley scratched his chin "Okay."

"The Wand will take the longest." Rodolphus said "I will drop it off early, and meet everyone in the Leaky Cauldron then before I pick it up."

"I will take care of the snake tonight so it's out of the way, you can count on me, Hermione." Narcissa gave her a bright smile.

"Tomorrow then, at eleven we'll convene at the leaky cauldron." Hermione said beginning to dip her spoon in her soup "We'll right the Wizarding World."

* * *

"I understand." She said later that night, when she was laying in bed next to him "I understand why Rodolphus and you, and Severus and Lucius and Yaxley hated muggles. I do."

"Was it that amazing?" He asked and she rolled over to face him.

"Light danced everywhere in ribbons across the air, glowing blues and purples and greens intertwined fed into and out of people connecting us all." She said "The magic within me, fed into the magic within you, it was...I understand more about magic now than I ever had before."

"I was too young to remember much about the first time my _papen'ka_ showed me the ancestral magic. It's back in Russia, Lucius was concerned that you could see so much." He rolled over to face her.

"Narcissa says Lucius is _always_ concerned."

"He has more to lose than most."

"Antonin."

" _Moya Lyubov_."

"Have you thought about...after the war?"

"What brought this up?"

"Narcissa."

"Of course she would have. I haven't thought about what to do after the war, no."

"Not even slightly?"

"Well," He closed his eyes and tried to think _of_ a life without a war, his whole adult life had been centralized around the Dark Lord and his mission, Antonin really hadn't thought of a life without that. "I will follow you."

"I haven't thought of what I'm going to do after the war either." She confessed "I have no NEWTs so I can't really get a job. I am missing two years of education."

"You are smart. You are _rich_ , and you are mine. There is nothing that you will be barred from."

He hadn't realized he closed his eyes, but when he opened them, she was staring at him with a strange emotion. "I am yours." She repeated.

"You have always been mine, _Malyshka_." He brought his hand up to her chin, torn between kissing her and just touching her. "Since the moment we met."

She kissed him shyly, her lips just brushing across his. Antonin deepened the kiss, his tongue tracing her lips, and then finally meeting hers. It was like fire in his veins. The need to possess her, claim her roared to life. Every cell in his body asking him to take her as a man takes a woman, but instead he kissed her gently, enjoying the small hitched breaths she made, the mewls of pleasure, the way her tongue danced with his.

He didn't want to scare her away, and so he had to be patient because he cared for her, because he loved her. He stayed still in the bed, his hand cupping her face, memorizing the feeling of her lips on his, because she was still so innocent, and because he loved her. When she fell asleep nestled up into him, her soft puffs of air warming his skin as she slept, he grabbed onto her, because she was the first to love him, and he was afraid at any moment, she would be enticed by something else and leave.


	27. Death & Death Eaters

He woke up to a tapping noise on the window and realized Hermione was splayed on top of him, her face buried in his chest. She had gotten more comfortable with him lately, and he couldn't say he minded. He stroked her hair and tried his best to ignore the tapping, hoping that somehow she'd wake up before it got annoying. He would not be the first to move, he was sure of it. Antonin stared at the ceiling, willing himself to go back to sleep. The tapping finally stopped and he drifted peacefully back to sleep. He was woke up with a tapping on his hand instead.

"A package is here for Mistress Hermione." Winty whispered, a package floating above her head that was as big as the elf itself "It is very urgent."

" _Pchelka_." Antonin queried.

"I'm up, I've been up." She said somewhere underneath her unruly hair, and finally she moved her head to the side so she was facing the elf. "Who is it from, Winty?"

"A Misters Malfoy." The elf whispered.

She sighed and then sat up, pressing her hair back away from her face, she wore a long black satin nightgown that left nothing to imagination, Antonin closed his eyes, a gift from Yaxley. She was a goddess. She crawled over him and off the bed.

"Place it on the table there, please, Winty, I'll get the cur-oh, I could have done that Antonin."

He spelled the curtains open and gave her a smile. She blushed prettily before turning away from him and to the brown box that was sitting on the tea table.

"What is it, Malyshka?" He asked sliding out of the bed and padding over to her.

She shrugged and opened the lid gently, but it was still too dark to see what was inside, she waved her hand in _lumos_ and then let out a startled scream, scrambling away from the table and almost tripping herself over the chair.

He had his wand out in an instant, pushing her behind him and pointing it at the box.

"Antonin, oh god Antonin, it's the snake, it's Nagini. Quick Winty, was a note-"

The elf looked afraid to hand over the scroll but she plucked it from Winty's gnarled fingers.

She broke the seal with shaking hands. Her eyes scanned the page and began to fill with tears. "Narcissa...she's dead. Antonin. I've killed her."

Hermione collapsed on the floor, her shoulders shaking as she cried over the letter. Her silent sobs ripped Antonin's heart to shreds. He tried to offer comfort, anything. "She knew the risks, you didn't send her to her death. _Malyshka_."

He got to his knees beside her, taking the letter from her grasp, reading over the tear stained paper. It was a short note from Lucius, his precise handwriting looked close to Rodolphus' own.

 _My dear,_

 _This is a gift from you to us, Narcissa's last. It was as we theorized._

 _Lucius_

"Tea." Antonin said from the floor, gathering the shaking bundle that was Hermione into his arms. "Tea, Winty."

The elf didn't respond, there was a _pop_ of a messy apparition and Hermione buried her face in her hands." _Malyshka_."

A soft knocking "I heard a scream." Yaxley of course.

"Yax." Antonin's voice sounded desperate even to him "Yax, please."

Yaxley opened the door softly, his hair sticking up to one side, his eyes tired, his robes open revealing only his silk pajama pants beneath. "What happened?"

"I killed Narcissa!" She wailed and Antonin hushed her.

"What's this, love?" Yaxley smoothed his hair back and eyed the box on the table "Narcissa is...she's dead?"

"The snake...got to her, it was a horcrux and she didn't survive." Antonin looked over at the box on the table.

Yaxley leaned over and then once he realized what it was, closed the lid on the box, Winty appeared for tea.

"Little dove," Yaxley said sinking on the floor next to them "Narcissa understood the risks more than any of us."

"It's not fair!" She cried "It's not fair."

It was then that Antonin realized just how young she was, as Yaxley rubbed her back and he rocked her until her sobs subsided and the sun had fully risen over the horizon.

* * *

She followed behind them, silent, her fingers tugged on Antonin's jacket as they all filed into the leaky cauldron at eleven. Her mission overtaking her bout of melancholy, it was a shared purpose that kept the group together, the focus on completing something that Narcissa had started gave them all strength. Lucius slid in last, his hair pulled back into a tight ponytail unbrushed, clearly glamored but even that didn't help. They all knew.

"We are here," his voice was hoarse " _muffalatio._ to discuss the Hogwarts inventory for our Lord."

There was a thump of a knife falling to the ground.

The group ate and discussed a piece of parchment that had nothing on it from the perspective of the memory viewer and after a few minutes they slowly left one at a time as not to arouse suspicion, leaving Hermione with Rabastan. Antonin was the last to leave, casting a lingering glance to the shimmering air next to Rabastan. He could feel her sadness, and soon he would feel the distance between them. He couldn't leave. He couldn't.

Yaxley tugged on him "Come."

He left.

They walked side by side down Diagon Alley, Antonin had his hands stuffed in his pockets and Yaxley spoke first as a crowd of children parted for them in front of the joke shop.

"I don't think she's dead." Yaxley said "I think this is a play by Lucius."

"A play?"

"I think Narcissa is with Draco, I think he took her out just like we took Hermione out."

"Lucius is a mess, it's obvious to anyone who sees him." Antonin replied "If they did something like this, why don't they trust us on it? Narcissa would have at least confided in Hermione."

"Maybe she did?" Yaxley asked "I wish I would have thought of shipping off the girl sooner, shipping us all off sooner, but we're in the endgame now."

Antonin frowned. Hermione _would_ have told him about a plan between her and Narcissa, Hermione told him everything. However, on the other hand, if he was in her position, wouldn't he keep secrets from his captors?

"I trust her." Antonin said finally after a few moments of silence "If she knows and is acting, then so be it. She's put her life on the line for us too many times to betray us to the Order."

Yaxley nodded "Then I trust her too. That puts the blame back on Lucius."

"Maybe Narcissa _is_ dead."

"I don't know what to believe anymore, I just have noticed that when someone dies lately, it isn't real."

"Bellatrix."

"Well that one was real, thank _Merlin_." Yaxley turned the corner and they were standing before the Ministry of Magic "Let's make this one real too."

Antonin still turned the idea over that Hermione was keeping secrets from them even as they passed the gold fountain of the Ministry of Magic. She would keep secrets, wouldn't she? If she was smart she'd have some kind of trump card up her sleeve more than all this loving, trusting, bullshit that she always put out. What kind of sick girl would fall in love with a man like him? Was she playing him this whole time for a bid at freedom?

When they reached the checkin witch, Yaxley barely even flashed his badge, Antonin had imperio'd and then confound her with such ease that their names were in the book even before they had reached the counter.

"She's a good person to trust, Antonin, don't get me wrong. I just...it's hard for me, yeah? So many people in this game are against us, and have always been. I can't just imagine someone being on our side so blindly." He pressed the button for the lift.

"She's not on our side blindly, we're on _her_ side blindly." Antonin replied.

Yaxley grew quiet as they waited.

"Oh." He spoke "When did that happen?"

Antonin held his arm out to prevent the lift door from closing and Yaxley stepped in, everyone else promptly stepped out. The door shuddered as it shut, the lift pulling them upwards. "When did what happen? When did her side become your side? Or when did you forget that this was her idea in the first place?"

Yaxley gave him a look "Fuck off, Tonin."

It was perhaps because of the ease that Hermione had slid into their lives that Yaxley had forgotten that she had proposed these plans to save the wizarding world, or because the plans today coincided so well with Yaxley's own feelings towards Scrimgeour and Umbridge that he forgot he hadn't proposed it. Antonin wondered if more people would remember Hermione's contribution the way Yaxley did, not at all. Did she want fame for saving so many people? Antonin doubted it.

They walked past the secretary, a well timed obliviate made it so they had never come at all, and when they opened up the minister's office, Yaxley's stunner hit nothing but air. The office was empty, the Minister was out.

"Now, we wait." Yaxley said, pulling out the Minister's chair and putting his boots on the table, playing with a letter opener, tapping the end on each of his fingers, a silent countdown for the Minister's life.

"Now, we wait." Antonin echoed, leaning against the wall near the door.

The Minister's Office was spacious and empty, Yaxley was flipping through an appointment book, the ticking of the clock on the far wall was driving him mad. "When?"

"Twenty minutes." Yaxley looked up from the book "Says he's in a meeting with the Wizengamot until 11:30."

Yaxley started to rifle around with other things on the table, shuffling useless notices and memos around and a paper caught his eye. "It's...it's the witch we pinned Hermione's wand on. He pulled her file."

"I thought we got rid of the file." Antonin walked over with haste.

"We did! There was only one copy made, and I burnt it."

A list of all the spells that had been cast recently to a deceased witch were spelled out with dates and times in neat magicked cursive with the last one being at the Leaky Cauldron, ten minutes ago, a notice-me-not charm. More writing began to appear, an _expelliarmus,_ _stupefy_ , and then the writing was beginning to get frantic as more defensive spells appeared.

"This is what he was tracking he brought it up to our lord, the meddling with the wand records, he's known all along." Yaxley spread papers out and read all the wand records, his own, Antonin's, Rodolphus, Severus. "If he's told our lord, we're done for. These records clearly show fiendfyre, multiple times, all when the-"

He was too focused on the spells that were forming faster than the ink could dry, defensive spells, harmless jinxes. He cursed her name under his breath. "She's done for Yax! These spells-"

" _Incendio_." Yaxley stepped out from behind the desk he caught on fire. "We're all done for, fuck it."

Antonin grabbed his arm and disapparated. They appeared in Knockturn Alley squeezed between a whorehouse and a bar, and they were not alone, a flash of pink a cry of "Minister please!" and then a flurry of black robes.

"Curse me again, Dolores! I'll make you regret every word." Scrimgeour called a volley of red light, there were screams in the streets as bystanders tried to get out of the way.

Antonin stepped out onto the street and watched the two disappear down another corridor, witches and wizards murmuring as they watched the Minister of Magic chase the Minister of Education down in broad daylight.

"Where's the girl?" Yaxley asked looking around "I thought the spell-"

Antonin frowned and looked around, the tracking charm almost always put him within a few feet of her location, and the lack of an annoying tug meant that she was very close by. The commotion of the crowd outside was too great, and suddenly there were several more cracks of apparition as aurors began to chase down the Minister of Magic, Kingsley at the helm of one of the groups that began to question the bystanders.

There was a soft pull on his robes and he turned around to see nothing but air. " _Pchelka_?"

The tugging was harder and he stepped back into the alleyway, casting concealment charms as they disappeared into the shadows. Yaxley stood outside observing the scene, casually blocking off the small crevasse between the buildings.

"Antonin," her voice was small as she finally took off the cloak, her head floating in mid air, flushed from being under the fabric for so long. "I think I've made a mistake."

He sighed at seeing her safe, running his fingers back through his hair and trying to quell the nerves that threatened to overtake him. "Speak, _pchelka_ , we can fix this."

"They know, they knew about the wand records, the fiendfyre, they said they had proof that we set the fire in the warehouse, so I tried to...modify their memory a bit, but it failed, and-"

"You _failed_?" He had never heard of her failing at anything in her life.

Her voice became shrill "There were too many memories to page through and they wouldn't...they wouldn't sit still Antonin! They know their memories are modified, they _know_ , but they don't know what yet, and so I kind of...well...oh I've done something terrible."

"What?" He wanted to shake her "What is it, Hermione?"

She winced at the use of her given name. "In the process of erasing memories I may have touched upon some others, and now they think they're fighting on opposite sides of the war, if they're caught Antonin, people will _know_ which memories were modified and they will find out about the wands...all of it."

He looked upwards for a minute formulating a quick plan before turning his attention back to the girl who was currently worrying her lip between her teeth. "Go back to the Leaky Cauldron, and do not leave until I come and fetch you myself, for _no_ reason will you leave."

"Yes, Antonin, but the Minister-"

"Go, _malyshka_." He snapped with a little more force than necessary.

"Antonin, I'm sorry."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and stepped out beside Yaxley. This was one hell of a _mistake_. Antonin looked at Yaxley who raised an eyebrow. "We have to kill Umbridge and the Minister before anyone else gets their hands on them. In broad daylight in Knockturn Alley."

"Simple enough, yeah?" Yaxley looked at him skeptically. "She's okay?"

"As good as she's gonna get." He said, and looked back at the empty alleyway.

Despite his anger at her mistake, it was the first time he had gotten the opportunity to fix them, it made him feel wanted for once, it made him feel like he had finally become _needed_. He took off with almost a skip in his step. He'd kill them both a thousand times over just to be needed by her.

Antonin cast a notice-me-not as he walked into the crowd fleeing the duel between the Minister and Umbridge, dodging a few curses as he finally broke free of the people running in the opposite direction. He looked over at Yaxley who was walking close to buildings on the other side of the street deflecting curses easily.

Yaxley gestured down the street and then waved at one of the buildings before giving him an okay signal. Easy enough, they'd done this at least a hundred times before with a hundred other victims.

He began to herd them off like a lion after deer, shooting off curses to herd them towards Yaxley, and if they had been a tad bit smarter, a tad bit more self aware, they would have noticed that neither of them were firing off _diffindo_ 's and _stupefy's_ but they weren't. They never were. Instead, too engrossed in a fabricated feud they kept firing curses at each other, dodging curses as they went closer and closer to each shop Yaxley was breaking open and then at the end of Knockturn Alley, right before the main street of Diagon Alley, they were herded off into Borgin & Burkes.

"Dolores!" The Minister's voice was hoarse as Antonin warded the four of them into the small shop, Borgin was unconscious already behind the counter, Yaxley had thought ahead. "Come out! This ends now!"

Antonin listened to the Auror's outside shout orders as they passed by the shop, and then it was only the heavy breathing of the Minister of Magic.

The door behind the counter thumped open and the body of Dolores Umbridge fell out her face hitting the edge of the counter and making a sickening crunch before she fell on top of an unconscious Borgin. "Minister." It was Yaxley, the door swung back the other way, there was blood on his tie. "I'm sorry to tell you that we're going to have to terminate your employment at the Ministry."

"Corban...Yaxley?" He looked stunned, and then the door finally stilled. The Minister raised his wand at the door and begin to cast a stunner, but Antonin sent a diffindo to the back of his knees and he cried out, falling onto his hands, his wand rolling across the dusty floor. Antonin walked around and picked it up before snapping it.

The Minister of Magic rolled onto his side and cradled his legs, cursing Yaxley up and down before turning his head to see Antonin. "Who the bloody-Dolohov?"

"Yes." He replied, sending another _diffindo_ at the arm that was holding his bloody legs. The Minister let out a strangled cry.

Yaxley opened the door, wiping his tie off with a dusty rag. "Yeah? Do you think that was a good one? It sounded pretty cool."

"Yaxley!" Scrimgeour screamed "Wait until our Lord hears that you attempted to ki-"

Antonin cast a _silencio_. "It was a little forced."

"Forced?" Yaxley kicked over the corpse of Dolores Umbridge, dragging her along the floor, leaving a trail of blood. Her feet kept catching on the floorboards, making small thumps as they went to the center of the room. He dropped unceremoniously next to the Minister. "Who doesn't want to fire their boss? Grab this please." Yaxley said, pointing to the locket, when the Minister did not comply, Yaxley looked up at Antonin.

Antonin rolled his eyes before the Minister's eyes went blank and his hand reached out and grabbed the locket, squeezing it tightly. Yaxley cast a few more diffindo in the process. After a few moments, the Minister of Magic was unconscious, and Antonin slipped from his mind.

"Put the wand in the other room where all the blood is." Yaxley said squatting down next to the Minister. "A wand fight followed by them struggling out here and then both eventually bleeding out."

Antonin tossed it on the floor before letting the door swing shut, Yaxley was busy modifying the memories of Borgin. "Out the back," Yaxley said, standing up. "For discreet customers."

Antonin followed Yaxley out, looking back at the scene and traced a few runes in the air, dismantling his own wards before shutting the door and heading back to Diagon Alley.

Rodolphus was sitting with a distraught Lucius when they finally returned to the leaky cauldron, a few scrolls were sitting in front of them, neatly bound in red ribbon, two glasses of wine and a half drank bottle between them.

Antonin slid into the booth and relaxed, realizing that the lack of discomfort meant that she was close by. Yaxley slid in after them, calling for Tom to fetch them firewhiskey. All that was left was Severus, and time was wasting.

"Yeah?" Rodolphus said, looking at Yaxley critically, then scourgified him.

"Yeah." Yaxley replied as Tom poured them both a glass.

Antonin took the bottle.

Severus met them two glasses in, sliding in beside Rodolphus and plucking one of the scrolls.

Lucius gave him a look, and then turned to Antonin.

There was a thump as a butter knife fell onto the ground. Antonin realized belatedly that it was Hermione's clever way of knowing when to cut the memory.

* * *

They were gathered later, Hermione reading over a late edition of the Daily Prophet, Severus standing by the window waiting for more owl post, and they all waited for their marks to burn.

The headline was shouting at him:

DEADLY DUEL IN DIAGON ALLEY: MINISTRY DONE FOR?

Hermione hadn't said two words to him since they returned, sandwiched between Lucius and Rodolphus, trying to offer comfort where she could, failing miserably. So, Hermione did as she was wont to do in awkward situations, she read.

"No mention of the locket?" Yaxley asked hopefully.

"No. I think the Order got it, it's not here in the pictures of the scene either." She turned over the paper, her eyes darting to Antonin briefly before returning her gaze to Yaxley. She tapped her finger at the shaky picture of the Minister of Magic clutching Umbridge's shirt loosely. "It mentions that the fight must have started in the office, but no trace as to why, apparently the entire place was burnt, they credit it to the Minister having a _fiery temper_. Oh I'm sure they loved that one."

Swirling on the coffee table between them were two pensieves, one of their recollection of the afternoon and one of Hermione's modified memory of the day they now all shared. Antonin took another sip of firewhiskey turning over a million ways to apologize to her for being so snappy in the alleyway but none of them seemed to sound good. He stared at her as she was hunched over the prophet, scanning the obituaries for any names she knew.

" _Malyshka_ ," He intoned, deciding on the perfect apology.

"Antonin." She didn't look up, her finger now under someone's name.

"About today…" He looked down at his glass, the words seemed so perfect in his head a few minutes ago, but with so many people present, with her disinterest, they all seemed to fall short of a decent apology.

Lucius' flinched next to her causing her to gasp and suddenly his arm began to burn as well. Dammit.

"Be safe." She said, folding her hands in her lap, her eyes went to Antonin "All of you."


	28. Distraction

"Luciussss, tell me why my snake and your _wife_ are missing today."

Lucius went still beside Rodolphus and turned his head almost mechanically towards the Dark Lord sitting at the head of the table. Fear, Antonin felt it permeate the room.

Lucius spoke slowly, each word carefully measured. "My lord, I cannot...I found her dead in the drawing room, the snake was nowhere in sight."

Severus didn't miss a beat. "Nagini is missing?" Severus asked "Where is her caretaker?"

The room was far too dark to see if anyone else was in the room with them. Pettigrew often was sniveling in the shadows, so there could be a chance he was lurking. Antonin looked around to see if he could catch glimpse of him, but there was nothing.

" _Gone_." the Dark Lord bit out "He did not complete his _missssion_ for me."

The letter Narcissa wrote made sense now, the rat problem had been taken care of for awhile then. Antonin scratched his five o'clock shadow and glanced at Yaxley. Distraction was the name of the game. Time to put their plans into action.

"M'lord," Yaxley asked, taking his cue "The Ministry…"

"We are here to install a more trustworthy minister, _Luciusss_ will do nicely."

Severus cleared his throat before Lucius could respond "My Lord, The Order will try to install someone, I fear we are already too late."

"Make it happen Luciusss."

"My lord-" Lucius looked perplexed.

"Should we be wasting time on the Ministry when we will have the entire wizarding world in a few weeks?" Rodolphus cut him off, raising an eyebrow "It is a waste of time really, once we have Hogwarts, the Ministry will follow."

"The Ministry is ours in all but the Minister," Yaxley agreed "Lucius, myself, and a few other death eaters make up the heads of a majority of departments. Let the Order waste their time with figureheads, we have a war to plan."

"My lord, should we waste Lucius on a fools errand when he is an excellent strategist?" Severus asked.

"The Order will be too busy sorting out bureaucracy to find out about our plans to attack Hogwarts, only then will it be too late." Lucius insisted "It's a perfect distraction."

The Dark Lord slid his eyes from Lucius to Antonin, Antonin looked away. He was not a legilimens by any means. Antonin waited for a command to look at his lord, but none came. Instead he could hear something sliding across the wooden table. Antonin looked up to see a copy of the Daily Prophet with Dolores Umbridge, waving and smiling, the locket swinging from her neck.

"Dolohov." The Dark Lord spat his name. "Explain to me how this item, that I asked you to check on in the cave, came into Dolores Umbridge's possession."

"My lord," fear came out in the form of his accent, it was thick, his mouth was dry, there was no way he was getting out of this situation without being tortured "When I left that cave a locket was still in the basin, there...there was no way to get it out of the basin to check-"

" _Explain_ why Dolores Umbridge has this locket."

"I cannot." Antonin replied clenching his fists under the table "It was there when I left."

" _Look at me Dolohov_."

He snapped his head up to meet the Dark Lord's red eyes and felt the rushing sickness of legilimency, the world was spinning and he could see the flames engulfing the inferi, then they were in the memory of the flames engulfing his family. The screams made his ears ring. There was a _bang_ of something exploding, no, someone hitting the table. He was back in his seat and out of his memories.

"My lord," it was Rodolphus that broke the connection, his hand flat on the table, everyone looked startled. "Before we get too far in torturing Dolohov, I have something of great import."

"Make it quick, Rodolphusss."

He withdrew a wand and placed it on the table "This is Dumbledore's wand as you requested."

There was a rippling feeling of delight as the Dark Lord picked up the wand and the inner circle relaxed. It was a dark wood with knobs running throughout, it was exact.

"Very quick indeed." the Dark Lord looked back at Antonin " _Crucio_."

Even if it wasn't the real wand, his blood was on fire, he bent over the table in pain, crushing his teeth together to prevent himself from screaming. "Explain where the locket is Dolohov, _explain why Dolores has it_."

He saw stars, oh merlin, he squeezed his eyes tightly and felt his fingernails bite into his palms. Then as soon as he was sure his teeth were going to shatter, the curse was lifted.

"The locket is where I left it, my lord." Antonin exhaled. "There was no way for me to check the item, it was in the bottom of a basin full of potion that I could not scoop out."

"Yes, Ssseveruss' invention," The Dark Lord mused "I did not see the locket in your memory. _Legillmens_."

Before he could brace himself, he felt someone rifling through his mind like it was a deck of cards, memories of his father screaming at him, and then they were back at the cave Antonin was looking down at the locket and suddenly, like a record skipping he was fleeing with Yaxley, only he could see himself in the memory on the fringes, he could see his hand as they looked back at the fire. As quickly as the Dark Lord entered, he left, it felt like someone had punched him in the head. His vision was darkening, and he closed his eyes to try and gather his wits.

Those weren't his memories, those were Yaxley's. Yaxley squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his forehead. He felt a warm hand cover his own as the Dark Lord tapped his new wand on the table. "Very well, you were not at fault Dolohov, I will reward you with a mission."

"My lord." His voice was hoarse, his blood was on fire.

"Work with Luciusss and _Severusss_ to find a way to harnesss the power our Ancestors gifted us and use it against the muggle lovers at Hogwarts. There are ssssix leylines somewhere underneath Hogwarts, Severussss you are in charge of Hogwarts until it is ours. Asssisssst your brothers."

"Yes my lord." The three men said in unison.

"I am tired of your idiocy, dissmissssed."

Antonin didn't make it from the table, he laid his head on the cold wood and didn't wake up.

* * *

"And you're sure? He said six?" Her voice was the first thing he heard, her hand was the first thing he felt. A cold washcloth was over his eyes, her bodyheat up against his, a frisson of magic came into awareness.

"Six." Severus replied "We have to have a meeting with the Order, I need to be given control of Hogwarts and the leylines. If he plans to use the magic against the students, merlin, it'll be a massacre."

He could feel her fingers tracing his knuckles and another tremor shot through him. She squeezed him tighter. "I don't know how we're going to arrange any meetings, to be honest, I think we're going to have to use the Board of Governors to get you that position."

"Minerva-" Severus began.

"The Board of Governors has final say Severus, I will get you that position. Hermione can come and inspect the grounds before school begins. We can...maybe see the leylines he speaks of." Lucius sounded as tired as Antonin felt. "Tomorrow, I suppose. Merlin, it feels like a lifetime has passed over the hols."

"Tomorrow. We need to destroy the diadem and the snake head before then, and the Vampires-" she let out a sigh "Tomorrow is Friday, classes resume on Monday. We haven't got much time to get our ducks in a row."

He heard Rodolphus, he sounded the closest. "Rabastan and I will-"

"No." Hermione sounded insistent. "Please, Rodolphus, together."

"Antonin and Yaxley are not _well_ and we haven't got much time." Rodolphus urged.

"I want to be there for you."

"Hermione." He was testy.

"Please." She begged.

"Hermione is right," Rabastan spoke up "Brother, don't you remember what happened last time? The darkness?"

"Thank you, Rab." Hermione was grateful, she squeezed his hand. "Winty, bring the potions here, Antonin is awake."

" _Malyshka_." He rasped, and the washcloth was removed from his face to see her looking down at him, her brown eyes full of concern.

"Quicker than Yaxley." She smiled and reached over him, grabbing two or three vials of potion. "I'll take my dinner in here, Drolly, does anyone want to join me?"

"It's nearly midnight." Severus said "Hardly a normal time for dinner."

She looked at the labels on the potions before offering him a soft blue one. "Yes, well, since when were things normal around here?"

The potions made his body feel numb and fuzzy. He fought sleep. He wanted to be near her. He focused on the smell of tea, the feeling of her fingers in his hair. He could see Yaxley on the other side of her, sleeping peacefully. What had happened after he had passed out? Was Yaxley tortured as well?

"He slipped into your mind and forced your memories." She said, reading his thoughts, he realized that she was done and just waiting for the ink to dry. "It takes a considerable amount of magic, I wonder why he didn't tell us he was so accomplished as a legilimens? I thought only Severus-"

"The element of surprise is useful, none of us knew." Severus said, Antonin could hear the clinking of ice in a glass.

"I best be off," Lucius said "I will come collect you and Severus tomorrow morning, Hermione."

"Of course, of course." She yawned "Be well, Lucius."

Antonin closed his eyes. When he opened them again she was asleep next to him and the room was empty. Her hair was over her eyes and she had her fingers curled into small fists in front of her mouth. The moonlight gave her skin an ethereal glow as she slept peacefully next to him.

" _Pchelka_." He whispered, sitting up slightly and saw Yaxley was still asleep on the other side of her.

"Mmm?" She rolled over on her back and he could see that she was still wearing her robes for the day. "Tonin?"

He thought better of it, and rolled over on his side, pulling her close to him and burying his nose in her hair. Vanilla, Tea, Biscuits, _home_. " _Moya Lyubov_."

"Feeling okay?" She asked, still sleepy, turning over in his arms so her body was nestled up against him.

"Better." He hugged her tighter against him "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She sounded more awake and tried to turn in his arms, but he didn't allow it. She was warm, warmer than any bottle of firewhiskey, warmer than any fire. She healed him.

"In Knockturn Alley today."

"Antonin." He could hear the smile in her voice "I should apologize to you. They knew we were there today, they came looking for you and I panicked, and I messed up trying to protect you."

"I will protect you." Antonin said, kissing the crown of her head "You don't need to protect me. I will _always_ protect you."

He woke up again as the first rays of dawn filtered into the room. She was holding Yaxley's hand, sleeping peacefully spooned up against Antonin. She fit perfectly.

* * *

They were standing outside the shrieking shack, the hood of her robe pulled so far forward on her face that he could only see her pink lips and nose. Rodolphus and Antonin flanked her as they waited for Severus and Lucius to join them. The two of them were finishing up the business of promoting Severus to headmaster and kicking Minerva out.

Antonin couldn't say that he was too upset about that, a kidnapper should not be in charge of children. The woman abused Hermione's trust and she was supposed to be in charge of the most important stronghold in wizarding Britain? Antonin snorted and Hermione looked up at him sharply.

"What's taking them so long?" Rodolphus asked, distracting her.

"I imagine that the business of kicking the Headmistress of Hogwarts out of her seat takes more than ten minutes." She said as she fidgeted with her robes, pulling them around her closer.

It wasn't that she was cold, a few warming charms took care of that. Antonin knew this fidget, it was the too close to her old life fidget. The worry that someone might recognize the _new_ Hermione and approach her as the _old_ Hermione. The robes today were her shield from her old life and she was afraid that they might not protect her.

" _Malyshka_ ," He warned as another group of witches passed by to the village from the train station "Relax."

She was wearing white today as camouflage, Yaxley teased her for getting married in secret, but she insisted that it would help her blend in with the snow, and with the amount of notice-me-not charms she cast on herself, she probably did. Antonin didn't want to break it to her, but two black clad death eaters would break any hope of blending into the snow.

Severus and Lucius rounded the corner with somber looks on their faces and Hermione fidgeted again, this time it was excitement. They were going to find where the leylines met, and make sure no one found out about it.

"Headmaster Snape." Antonin said and bowed.

"Ex-Convict Dolohov." He bowed back.

Hermione snorted.

"Can you perform the spell on yourself Hermione, or...Rodolphus? I can also." Lucius gestured to the three of them.

She seemed to sense that Lucius was eager and so she stepped out from between the two men and up to the blonde, closing her eyes "Go ahead."

"You don't...really have to close your eyes, it just is a little jarring to see the magic appear." Lucius seemed perplexed and stepped back, pulling off his leather gloves.

"Oh." She blushed prettily and bowed her head. "Well, I mean the book said-"

"Get on with it Malfoy." Antonin didn't relish the idea of any man touching her, let alone Lucius.

"Very well, close your eyes then." He sighed and reached a hand out to touch her between the eyes, a spark and she bit her lip before opening her eyes again.

Lucius withdrew his hand and then hastily cast the same spell on himself.

"Why do you do it wandlessly with me?" She asked, surveying the grounds, squinting a little "I read that it is not necessary even for touch to cast the spell."

"In pureblood...in magical societies," Lucius corrected himself "It's a ceremony of sorts to introduce your child to magic, the touch, the fact that Rodolphus wanted to be the one to perform it. It's a familial moment, something that...I suppose felt...right." Lucius got quiet at the end. "We'll do it with the wands next time, no need to stand on ceremony. Draco _loved_ it endlessly, the boy spent days following the leylines."

Hermione smiled and motioned towards the castle "Can you see them now, Lucius?"

"Faint blue streams, running through the snow, the original twenty eight all can see the leylines to varying degrees, it's our heritage." Lucius began to walk up the path. "Many people don't know that it's a simple spell because of all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the first, and probably only time that it'll be used. Ancestral magic is powerful, and it's been forgotten."

Hermione darted off after Lucius, extending one arm out to touch something he couldn't see, peppering Lucius with questions about why Hogwarts doesn't teach about ancestral magic, and how she could learn more. He seemed eager to speak of his expertise and his heritage, the first smile he had seen come from the haughty blonde in weeks.

"It became the duty of the family to tutor their children on the family magic once Hogwarts became more _inclusive_ , different families had different strengths, and your lineage affected what magic you were apt at. As bloodlines became... _diluted_ the ancestral magic became weaker, many children were not given the opportunity, or could not see the leylines. In another few generations...some children might not be able to understand their magic at all." Lucius took a sudden turn, but Hermione had stopped to survey the land.

"I do not have a drop of blood running through me that is from the original twenty eight, Lucius Malfoy, and I can see the leylines, and I can see _your_ magic and I can see the Castle's magic and warding." She crossed her arms "Blood purity has nothing to do with it."

Lucius was peeved, he stopped in the snow and turned back to her, his eyes narrowed. "You are protected and _accepted_ by the LeStrange magic, don't you feel the transference when Rodolphus touches you? Heals you?"

"I've transferred magic to Antonin as well! Magical transference has nothing to do with blood purity."

Rodolphus looked horrified next to him, Antonin opened his mouth to explain, but Rodolphus was quicker.

"Magical transference means you gain someone else's magical signature, you're not supposed to do that unless it's within your family! Who else, Hermione?"

She turned back to Rodolphus and suddenly looked nervous "What do you mean?"

"It's dangerous, that's what I mean!"

Severus cleared his throat "Hermione, you cannot mess with your magic or other people's magic by transferring your own into others, or taking others. Magic _flows_ and if you give, then you also _lose_. You lose Rodolphus' protection on you by giving it to someone else."

"I don't need his protection when other people need my help more!" She trudged up the hill and past Lucius "Blood purity is a stupid thing to bring up in front of a _mudblood_."

Lucius followed her, clearly angry "No one would _ever_ call you a mudblood, your blood is not muddled anymore, you have LeStrange magic!"

"I don't need LeStrange magic and if I could I'd give it back if you would just take me seriously for once Lucius!" She huffed and disappeared into the courtyard.

"Can't you admit, just once Hermione Granger, that someone knows more about a subject than you do?" Lucius snapped "This is our heritage, this magic is something we fought to-Hermione?"

Antonin rushed into the courtyard to see her staring at Minerva McGonagall on the way out of the castle with a somber Filch carrying her trunks.

"Professor." She greeted quietly.

Lucius straightened himself up to his full height, gathering all his airs and appearance to befit the Head of the Board of Governors.

"Miss Granger," The woman said and crossed her arms.

"I believe you should be leaving now, Minerva." Severus said quietly, standing beside Lucius.

"Was this your idea too, girl?" She gestured to Filch who was carrying her trunks."The Order _needed_ you and you turned your backs on us, now you're taking away this too?"

"Minerva." Lucius' tone held no room for argument "Please leave in a peaceful manner or I shall call the authorities."

Professor McGonagall's lips formed a razor thin line. "I was wrong about you, Hermione Granger, for being such a smart girl, your common sense is _lacking_."

"That will be all, witch." Antonin snapped "Your services are no longer required."

"Mark my words, Miss Granger, when _this_ is over, you'll regret your actions today."

"Spiteful woman." Antonin spat, incensed that anyone would attack the girl in front of him. "Spiteful, harridan. You think your job is worth more than your life?"

"Antonin." Hermione said softly beside him "Enough. We are not here for glory. We are here to do what is right."

" _Pchelka_ -"

"Antonin." She insisted, reaching out and grabbing his hand. She was cold, she looked away from her former Professor.

Hermione had tamed werewolves, sacrificed herself to vampires, and stood up to giants, but one woman had reduced her to this. A quiet girl, ashamed of who she was. Antonin longed to hide her from this, to tuck her away, but instead gave her his strength by squeezing her hand.

Minerva walked past the group with Filch, muttering something under her breath about _wasted potential_ which made Hermione tense up next to him.

"It's here." She said quietly. "The nexus."

In the center of the clocktower courtyard was a fountain that had seen better days, the remnants of grecian columns were flocked by griffin statues. She touched one of the dilapidated columns and Antonin's hands began to burn.

" _Malyshka_." He warned, and she looked back at him confused.

"Lucius, I can feel it. I've never felt it before now." She reached through the pillars and towards the frozen fountain in the center. "There's so much magic here."

Antonin hissed in pain, yanking her backwards towards him. His nerves were on fire, his fingers were numb. It felt like fiendfyre in his hand. He let go and inspected his palm but there was nothing, his skin wasn't even red. She looked at him strangely. The magic of Hogwarts did not care for Antonin.

"Most likely it was, or has been warded in the past." Severus said and began to cast some warding spells "With no headmaster, the wards are weakened considerably, these might have fallen."

"We will tell our Lord that the nexus is in the Headmaster's office then." Rodolphus said looking up at the castle.

"If the Dark Lord has the blood of the Sacred Twenty Eight, then won't he be able to tell it's a lie." She queried.

"It _is_ possible to create warding to look similar to the leylines." Lucius said walking towards the castle "but it is difficult, and that's why Antonin is here, the name of the game is _distraction_."


	29. Old Friends & Losing Focus

She was sitting in a window seat looking over the snow covered grounds in the Headmaster's office as they stepped out the plan to create the wards. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and Severus was in quiet discussion with her, but her responses were short and wistful.

The stronger the wards were, the more stationary the magic appeared, the weaker the warding, the more it flowed. He began the gentle craft of creating circuits of warding to converge near the desk, it was a thankless art, but it was his. The magic began to flow in earnest after the second one, creating large loops around the castle that appeared as the leylines had. He layered them as Hermione had described, and what he had remembered from his childhood, a twisting of white and blues, purples and greens that met at one point, he had just started the third when he was called for lunch.

They sat at the far end near the window and Hermione poked at her food, unwilling to eat Hogwarts delicacies. "I was thinking," She said as she pushed her spoon around her soup "Could we perhaps add some charms to the center of the warding?"

"Charms?" Antonin asked and then "Eat."

"Healing spells." Hermione reluctantly ate a spoonful of tomato soup "Something to mimic the feeling of the nexus, the feeling of _power_."

"I've never had a warding system with healing spells, but technically speaking, you can trigger any spell with them." Antonin nudged her plate "I'll teach you. Finish your soup."

Severus stood up first from lunch "Lucius and I have to go inform the staff about my new position."

"Join us for dinner? At the manor." Hermione asked hopefully "You too, Lucius, if you want."

Lucius nodded "Of course."

Severus looked at the clock on the far wall "I hope to be back before then."

Rodolphus stood as well "Rabastan and I have an errand to run for our Lord today, we are...verifying the death of Dolores Umbridge. It shouldn't take long, once you're done with the warding, meet us back at the Manor."

And with that, Antonin and Hermione were left alone.

"Come, _pchelka_ , let me teach you my art." He said, standing up, trying to ignore her uneaten lunch in hopes that learning about complex warding would brighten her spirits. Her old life wore her down.

He loved the way she blushed when she slid her hand into his, her innocence fueled his desire for her. The way she realized their intimacy, the frisson of their magic meeting and intertwining. She gave him everything so easily, her trust, her power, her affection. She crossed the room with him, touching his warding like it was made of spun glass.

"The wards flow in large arcs around the room, this is to give the illusion that there are six of them, but in reality, it's only three, the layers are in flux." He touched a purple wave that passed them "The weaker the wards are, the different they appear, if they were any weaker, they'd look like smoke."

He placed her hand on the intersection of the wards and she stilled, feeling the warmth "One of the wards can burn people, but when you mix it with a freezing ward, it creates just enough heat to feel like the leylines that I remember." He was close enough that some of her curls brushed his nose "Today the leylines were hot, too hot."

"Your magic doesn't _settle_ like Rodolphus' or Lucius' does, it burns bright, it burns hot." Hermione said quietly, leaning her body back against his "It's different, even the leylines here know it."

"Does it hurt?" He asked, pulling her back against him now, lacing his fingers with hers. There was always that initial frisson when she was close, like two magnets finding their attraction before it settled.

"No." She shook her head "No, I like your fire."

He kissed the shell of her ear, enjoying her soft gasp of surprise. "You _are_ my fire."

She tilted her head to the side, exposing the pale skin of her neck and he brushed her hair aside " _Malyshka_." He kissed down her neck " _Pchelka_." His lips brushed against the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulders " _Moya Lyubov_."

"Antonin." She breathed.

"Tell me to stop." He murmured against her skin, enjoying the way she shivered underneath his touch. " _Hermione_."

Her hands came over his and she shook her head "I would never deny you."

" _Khorosho._ " He whispered, spinning her around in his arms, his hands were shaking as he cupped her face, worried that somehow his touch would shatter her " _Khorosho_."

He kissed her gently at first, enjoying the small sound she made in surprise, her fingers twisting into the front of his robes as she pulled him closer. His tongue slipped past her lips and slid his hands around her waist, hitching her up against the desk, knocking over a few desk trinkets as he settled between her legs.

Hermione's hands ran up his body tangling her fingers into his hair, drawing him into her as she kissed him deeply.

A squawk interrupted the two of them and Hermione rested her forehead on his chest, breathing heavily.

"Fawkes." She sighed "Good timing." She slid off the desk, her hands falling to her sides.

He thought about blasting the bird, but the only spell that came to mind would just cause it to reborn. A few curses in Russian left his mouth, and she gave him a look.

"Oh!" She said "Oh! There's something tied to him."

She reached out her hand and the phoenix extended his leg, she grabbed the scroll and unfurled it. "It's from Harry."

"Have the bird burn it." Antonin scoffed, clearing off the desk and sitting on it himself. "Whatever he has to say is worthless."

"Antonin...he wants to meet." She looked up at him, helpless "He wants to meet us, and _discuss_."

"Discuss what?" He snapped, irritated that the moment was lost, and that a boy who poisoned her and nearly killed her was in her good graces still " _Malyshka_ , there is nothing to say to The Order. I'll finish a few charms, and we leave. Ignore the message."

The gargoyle shifted and he squeezed his wand. " _What_." Antonin barked.

"This is _my_ office." Severus said walking back into his office with Lucius in tow.

"You're welcome," Lucius said flopping down unceremoniously on one of the chairs.

"Severus, I've received a note, from Harry." She looked up at him, concern clear in her eyes "They want to meet."

"For what reason?" Severus plucked the scroll from her hands and read it over briefly "They wish to _use_ you again?"

She crossed her arms "A cooperative strategy, enemy of my enemy-"

"Didn't the Potter boy curse you?" Lucius mused summoning a house elf and poking at the remnants of lunch.

"I was imitating a LeStrange at the time." She replied sitting down across from Lucius and pouring herself a cup of cold tea. "You cannot blame him."

"Hermione, _you_ are a LeStrange." Lucius replied.

She choked on her tea. Hard truths were still truths.

* * *

Rodolphus looked over the note a few times with Rabastan over his shoulder and then peered up at Hermione who was sitting on the edge of his bed with her hands clasped over her lap. "No, absolutely not. We took down the Ministry just to avoid this."

"We have to tell Harry at least!" She cried "About...the...about the horcrux!"

"Listen, love." Yaxley said, raising his glass to her "Every time we've met up with the Order, no offense Severus, they've cursed, poisoned, or kidnapped you. We have a meeting with the vampires, in...oh three hours."

"What about tomorrow?" She asked hopefully "Just Harry and Ron."

Yaxley snorted. "As if the Order would leave their wonderboy alone in a den of snakes."

"And me!" She said standing up, indignant.

"Get dressed," Antonin motioned towards the door "This can wait for another day, _pchelka_."

She huffed and stood up, leaving the room in a flutter of fabric. Antonin surveyed the room.

"Explain to me... _why_ we cannot kill the boy." Rodolphus tossed the message on the table "And finish this war once and for all."

"The girl would never forgive you." Yaxley picked up the note before snorting. "They're just using her! Cooperative effort, joint strategy, it's shit."

Antonin looked down at his empty glass of firewhiskey "Whatever they want, we need to at least get to the boy. He's the horcrux."

"Here, here." Rodolphus said.

Yaxley tossed the note into the fire. "We have yet to destroy the diadem."

"We have time." She said at the doorway, holding onto the frame as she slipped on her other heel, her hair falling in front of her face as she shimmied her foot into the white pumps, her black bag hanging off her arm. She put her foot down with a click of the heel against hardwood "No time like the present, yeah?"

She was a vision, Antonin was sure he had died. Her hair was piled up hastily on top of her head, a braid of blue ribbons and curls that swirled into a bun. The white dress she had picked out from the catalog she must have charmed into fruition, because the fabric shimmered with magic as she moved. It skirted the floor, the gauzy white fabric flowed like water around her, the blue ribbon tied under her bust gave it shape. She summoned the white cloak she had been wearing earlier today and slipped it on.

"Charms on clothing doesn't hold, love." Yaxley said knowingly getting up from his chair beside the fire.

"We're not going to be gone for long." She tugged on the fabric, Yaxley did the same and walked around her to inspect her handiwork. Antonin wondered if that was the only thing he was inspecting.

"Grab the diadem, we'll apparate somewhere remote and destroy it." She said pulling her dress away from a critical Yaxley "Then the party."

Oh the things Antonin wanted to do to her in that dress.

* * *

The seven of them stood in a circle around the diadem that was now half buried in the snow. They were in a small clearing in the forest of dean. Rodolphus' choice of location, saying he had once been on a hunting trip here. Lucius seemed to know it well, leading them down the winding paths to this clearing. "It's a campground," He explained "Every pureblood knows the Forest of Dean."

Rabastan had tossed the diadem into the snow, eager to be rid of it and they all waited for the first person to make a move. "Fiendfyre?" She asked "This one doesn't seem to be as strong as the others."

"It may have been created at a later time." Rodolphus mused "When there was less soul to take from."

She nodded and extended her hand "Stand back, Antonin, ward the fire in so it doesn't catch the forest, I'm no-"

"Maybe I should cast it." Rodolphus offered but even still he took a few steps back, his boots crunching in the snow.

The answer was apparent, she would do it.

She looked over at Antonin and he nodded, withdrawing his wand. In an exacting motion a snake made out of fire erupted from her hand, taller than the trees itself, it's tail fell at her feet as it reared itself on her. The sheer size of the snake was already destroying the diadem. Antonin struggled to get warding up fast enough and large enough to contain her fiendfyre The warding glowed pink and then settled as the snake began to coil and compress over the diadem, settling itself down into sleep, tucking it's fiery tail into itself and then resting it's head on it's body, and then finally, in a puff of black smoke, the fiendfyre was gone, as was the diadem. Antonin struggled to withdraw his own wards, leaving a black circle in the middle of the clearing, the grass and snow burnt down to white smouldering ash, and in the center was the remains of the diadem, a charred and melted lump of metal that Yaxley poked with a nearby tree branch, the branch summarily caught fire.

She crouched down near it, her dress and robes collecting soot around the hem "It's gone, that leaves one."

"Harry Potter." Lucius drawled "It always comes down to him."

There was one thing for certain, as Yaxley spelled her dress white again, Hermione was far more powerful than any of them to not only create such a vast fiendfyre, but to be able to control it as she had, to tame it and charm it to sleep. Yaxley gave him a look over her shoulder that said he felt the same way, for the first time, he worried that her fire would swallow him whole. For the first time, Antonin realized that Hermione could be dangerous.

Did she know? The way she extended her hand and smiled up at him told him that she didn't. The way she thanked him for his wards said she was clueless. The way she asked to be apparated to the party said that if he could help it, he'd never tell her.

Antonin gathered her into his arms and disapparated.

* * *

Sanguini was waiting at the door to an old warehouse building on the wrong side of London, the sewers smelled like rotten eggs and Hermione's managed to draw the attention of some dogs as they walked from the apparition point. He brightened up when he saw Hermione, grabbing her hands and pulling her inside even as he revealed the secret kept location.

"Sanguini wait!" She cried and before them all unveiled a large mansion with huge grecian columns that were over three stories high, the littered yard flickered into a well manicured garden and she yelped as she tripped over a tire that turned out to be nothing at all.

Antonin hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her backwards into him. "Enough, vampire." He snapped "Do not pull, do not touch."

"You _must_ get there first, there is someone else here, another wizard, who is meeting with the old master." Sanguini sounded panicked.

Hermione stilled. "Another?"

"Another." He said pulling her along "Long red hair, I think a Prewitt."

"A Weasley." Rodolphus seethed "A _Weasley_."

Hermione hurried in after Sanguini, hiking up her dress so it no longer dragged on the ground, following Yaxley through the vast double doors. The nine of them weaved through crowds until they made it to the grand ballroom, candles floating overhead as Hermione burst through the crowd, pulling Antonin with her.

Lord Giovanni was sitting at a table littered with goblets and pitchers, bag of blood stolen from a muggle hospital, women stood at either side of him in front of the gold dancefloor. He had his head on his hand, sipping lazily from a goblet as listened to the red head explain with shaky confidence the benefits of The Order. He perked up at the sight of Hermione as she smoothed out the front of her dress before curtseying low, Antonin followed, as did everyone else. Her voice was clear through the din of the crowd.

"Lord Giovanni." She said, smiling brightly as she approached the table, standing next to the long haired red headed man and then, without fanfare, got to her knees before the old lord and laced her fingers on her lap "You've been well?"

He laughed and stood up "My Helen of Troy, come, _come_ , Miss Hermione, we have shared blood, no need to stand on ceremony!"

"Hermione _Granger_?"

"Charlie Weasley." She said coolly, getting up and looking bat at Antonin "You know my men, of course, Giovanni, we have Lucius Malfoy as well with us tonight, he can never turn down a ball."

"The first new moon of the New Year is not a ball to be missed." Giovanni clapped and music began to play, a harpsichord began the first few notes of a sad waltz before a violin joined it. The spectacle of the humans was over, the Vampires began to mingle amongst themselves, the din of conversation blending with the waltz.

"Does Miss Hermione know you, boy?" Giovanni walked out from behind his table to take her hand.

The red head looked her over briefly and then turned his attention back to the Vampire "Lord Giovanni, if I we could perhaps wait for your human affairs liaison to arrive, I am sure I could convince you a-"

"Our _human_ liaison is her. The Elder Council decided this on the tenth moon of last year that all of our human affairs would be dictated by one Miss Hermione Granger, as repayment for her multiple sacrifices." Giovanni grabbed her hand and turned it over, inspecting where she had once cut herself for him. "And for my son, Sanguini, who was enslaved and then freed generously by her despite his _many_ mistakes."

"Sir," the red head said and stepped closer to Hermione "We may _all_ be on the same side if you have time to-"

Giovanni looked at Hermione critically and she in turn looked back at Rodolphus who nodded.

"Perhaps somewhere quieter?" She offered

"Always a good choice, Miss Hermione, gentlemen?" He gestured to the two women at the table who were tripping over themselves to aid the Lord of the Vampires, and the strange group of humans proceeded out of the dance hall.

* * *

Severus laid out three vials of blood replenisher next to Hermione as she stared down at the silver offering bowl, every visit with the vampires held a price and it was time to pay them for their continued loyalty. The study was vast but it felt crowded. She looked wary, her eyes flicked up to Antonin who was watching her carefully.

"Okay." Severus said next to her on the velvet couch pulling out some gauze from one of his many pockets in his robes.

Across from them sat the Weasley child, watching Hermione with interest but keeping his mouth shut. He had his hands clasped in front of him, clearly not able to understand what was about to happen because while he was relaxed everyone else in the room was tense.

Hermione picked up the dagger with a wan smile, drawing it across her palm with a hiss, ignoring the gasp of surprise from the Weasley child across from her. She set the knife down in the silver bowl, and squeezed her hand into a fist, letting the blood drop down into the bowl with an echoing plink.

"Charlie." She said, her voice strained "Tell me what The Order is planning, and I'll try to help you."

"We-" his eyes shifted to Severus who was sitting beside her, and he grew quiet "We have a lead on when the Dark Lord plans to attack the Ministry, from a source we know that his...inner circle-"

"Go on." Rodolphus said behind her "Tell us."

"His inner circle plans to assassinate Kingsley Shacklebolt during his inauguration ball." Charlie finished sheepishly. "The Vampires make up a majority of the socialites around the Ministry and if we could possibly convince them of our cause, then we could prevent the...assassination."

"News to me." Yaxley said shrugging. "Is that who you lot picked?"

"He was the obvious choice, yes." Charlie sat up straighter. "So, our intel was bad?"

"It's very _obvious_ to me that if the entirety of the inner circle is standing here talking to you and you're not dead for divulging our secret plans that your intel is _bad_." Severus drawled.

Hermione flexed her hand and grabbed the gauze that was sitting on the table next to the offering bowl, wrapping it gently and exhaling. "Charlie, you need to focus on Hogwarts, you _need_ to focus on Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts is lost to the Order." He looked at Severus "It's in enemy hands."

She bit her lip as she tried to tie the gauze, only to have Severus tie it for her. One of the vassals, a beautiful blonde without a stitch of clothing, took the bowl away. "We are helping you, Charlie Weasley, we are _not_ the enemy."

"Every man in the room has hurt you, Hermione." Charlie said and reached out to cover her sliced hand with his own. "Every man in this room has hurt someone who you consider a friend."

"I guess that's the difference between The Order and me then, I don't hold grudges, and I don't abandon people." She knocked back a blood replenisher and pulled her hand away.

Charlie looked as if he had been slapped "Hermione, we tried-"

"Enough." Antonin snapped "You tried what? To poison her? To kidnap her? To kill her? The Order tries time and time again to _rescue_ her and she gets hurt each time!"

"Murderer." Charlie seethed " _Murderer_."

"Oi! At least he's an honest murderer." Yaxley said beside Antonin crossing his arms "Not like you lot, deluding yourself into righteousness."

"Charlie, I don't give two...two flying _fucks_ what you think about the men in this room, or me. I want you to focus all your energy into defending Hogwarts and if you don't trust me, you _will_ lose this war." She was getting agitated, her fingers playing with the soft blue ribbon.

"Here, here." Yaxley jeered.

"Hermione there's no need to give him any more of your time." Rodolphus said quietly, placing his hand on her shoulder "The Order has other things to worry about, clearly."

"He's a LeStrange, Hermione." Charlie said, standing up, reaching up his sleeve.

"She's a LeStrange." Lucius scoffed "Explain to us _Weasley_ , what you mean by that."

"Ron was right about you." Charlie replied, walking towards the doors of the study "You'd do anything for a bit of recognition." The Weasley boy looked back at her and sneered "Even if it meant sleeping with the enemy."

The door that he had opened slammed shut, blue sparks arced through her curls, but it was Rodolphus who cast the first spell, a crucio that made the man fall onto the floor. "Say it again boy, insult her again."

"Rodolphus!" She cried and put her hand onto his arm, pushing it away.

Antonin saw it then, the extra magical energy that had made her almost glow was gone, metered into Rodolphus whose crucio intensified and then failed as his concentration broke. Lucius had seen it too by the confused look on his face.

"Leave, Charlie." She said quietly "Leave and remember what I told you: focus on Hogwarts."


	30. Reunions & Remembers

She was eating dinner after the ball, a sleepy 2:00am, when Lucius finally breached the subject that had been bothering Antonin all night.

"Hermione, my dear," Lucius was treading carefully "When you told me that you could see _all_ of our magic, could you explain?"

She looked up from her dinner of chicken and potatoes, a fork hanging from her mouth as she paused mid bite. She hummed and then smiled recalling the memory. "It was our magic, all of us, it flowed in and out like a river, just like the leylines did."

"Was it all a specific color? Did it originate from a specific person?"

She shook her head and dug into her food. "No, I don't think so, it was a blend, greens, purples, blues."

Lucius went quiet and she continued to eat, before his line of questioning finally clicked with another person in the room,

"You think we've been sharing magic?" Rodolphus asked "Which would explain why she could see all of our magic and not just the LeStrange magic."

Lucius nodded once, deciding on his answer "It would explain a lot of strange phenomena, most importantly, Hermione's inability to contain her magic when _emotions_ run high."

"It was controlled!" She replied, indignant. "The door...was an accident."

"It could be worse than a door next time." Antonin chastised "It could be a person."

She huffed and put the plate on the bed, Winty took it before it even hit the sheets, shoving a plate of dessert into her hands. "How am I sharing magic, then? With Ant-"

" _We've_ been sharing magic." Rodolphus stressed "We all have, that's why the magic you saw was not one color, you may have just been a conduit for it."

"When? With Antonin, I noticed! I felt his magic, I always feel it." Her cheeks tinged pink "I didn't notice sharing magic with Lucius, or with Severus."

Lucius shook his head "I've never heard of such a thing, but it would explain a lot. I'd have to research. Until then, it would be safer if you metered your magic out periodically, like you did this evening, something as simple as touch can bring it back under control. We'll all be safer until we can find the cause of our need to _overshare_."

"Is it dangerous?" She asked, her voice soft. "Can we be harmed?"

"As the conduit, it's possible." Lucius said "But, I've never seen something like this, so I cannot be sure."

She looked up at Lucius and then back to her plate.

"If the short term solution is as easy as touch, Hermione." Rodolphus added "Then the long term solution might not be so complicated either. No one is at fault, we are fighting a war, and perhaps the stress of using our magic as much as we have has _encouraged_ it to draw or meter it through other individuals."

"It may become a useful skill in the end." Severus stood up "So, dangerous or not, it gives us another edge."

"About Harry-"

"We'll address it Monday, if the Weasley child listened to you about Hogwarts." Severus cut her off and Lucius stood up as well.

"I doubt that a Weasley has ever listened to a thing Hermione has said." Rodolphus scoffed.

"That you can be sure of." Hermione said taking another bite of Tiramisu "Travel safe."

Both the men nodded and disappeared out of the room.

* * *

Harry Potter was missing from Hogwarts that following Monday with two others, a Weasley child, and _poor Neville_ , as Hermione said. Luna was dining with Severus on her first day back. He was stirring tea as the four of them sat in his quarters. Antonin was surprised at how cozy it was, plush, worn seating, and books covered every inch of the walls. Hermione nestled herself in a seat by the fire as if she had been there a thousand times before.

"They didn't take it." Hermione sighed, pulling apart a croissant into small pieces, nervous as usual, Antonin stopped her hand. "They didn't _listen_."

"What were you expecting?" Severus snapped, and when Luna shifted in her seat he gave Hermione an apologetic look. Luna had that effect on people. "How can we get the Order to focus on something that _isn't_ the Ministry before February? We created this mess."

"I didn't realize they would become so _embroiled_ in something that's been entirely useless since I was born." Hermione gave Antonin a look as he _reparo'd_ her torn apart croissant.

"Hogwarts has always been the safest place."

"Not for much longer." Luna hummed, pouring herself some tea "New guests are coming."

"New guests?"

"Ah, yes, thank you for dutifully informing her Miss Lovegood." Severus seemed peeved "The Carrows will be replacing some professors that have...unfortunately left the staff."

"The Carrows?" She looked at Antonin for explanation.

"Alecto and Amycus?" Antonin asked

"It seems that their money has bought them something for the month." Severus sipped his tea and looked to the doorway that led out into the potions lab. "With Lucius' support dwindling, the Dark Lord is selling inner circle seats to the highest bidders."

"Poor Lucius." Hermione sighed "His family and his fortune are gone."

"Hardly, he's been moving his funds out of the country for months now." Severus continued "Draco will be very well off, as is usual for a Malfoy."

"Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked

"No, Charity...Professor Burbage has gone missing, I assume she'll turn up at one of our meetings this month, and of course, Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Turn up?" Hermione finally bit into the croissant

"Dead."

She choked on her food and began coughing.

"Unnecessary, Severus." Antonin growled, rubbing her back soothingly.

"What do you mean dead? We have to help!"

Antonin gave Severus a pointed look, before turning to Hermione. " _Malyshka_ , more likely than not, she's already dead, if she's been missing for a good amount of time."

"It is a _good_ thing then that Harry did not return to Hogwarts." Luna steered the conversation effortlessly "If the Dark Lord has the Carrows here, Harry was _different_ when Professor Umbridge was here, the Carrows would be worse."

Hermione hummed in agreement, sipping her tea, fidgeting with her robes now that the croissant wa taken away. "We need them back here, with or without the Carrows, preferably without."

"Then we get rid of the Carrows." Antonin decided next to her "Simple."

"Not so simple." Severus replied "How are you going to _dispose_ of them within the walls of Hogwarts."

"Simple," Antonin sat back smugly "We lure them out, and what better bait than inner circle members, the Carrows have always been desperate for acceptance."

Severus raised an eyebrow "Hermione?"

"Absolutely _not_. Killing them puts Severus in danger." She shook her head "That's the last thing we need right now. Hogwarts is our stronghold, we cannot let the Dark Lord get near the leylines."

Antonin ran his fingers back through his hair and turned towards her "Memory modification, _pchelka_?"

She smiled around her tea cup "Now that is an idea I can get behind."

* * *

They left Severus as the sun dipped beneath the trees, his last words echoed hers the night before "Travel safe."

She slid her hand into his, squeezing it for reassurance. "Professor Burbage was one who first made me feel welcome in this world. She told me that magic does not discriminate, even if others do."

"Magic _does_ discriminate." Antonin corrected, peeved that someone lied to her "You know that as a fact now, the leylines choose their own."

"Magic chose me, and it chose you." She pointed out as he opened the gate for her "And my magic chose yours, clearly."

"I don't think it works that way, _pchelka_." He shut the gate as she continued on past him towards the Forbidden Forest "My magic chose _you_."

She looked back at him over her shoulder. "Professor Burbage told me that magic is shared, it doesn't choose, it flows, and she was right, the magic in you swotty purebloods is the same magic that flows in me, it doesn't discriminate, our blood is the same."

She was a vision before him, standing at the edge of the forbidden forest now, the wind kicking up white powder and her black robes, her hair blowing gently in front of her face. Her slim figure accentuated by the breeze as the LeStrange sigil captured the sun. She had a bit of everyone with her today, the bag that Yaxley had gifted her clasped loosely in her hands, his necklace around her neck, the ring glittering in the final rays of daylight, the black dress, a gift from Narcissa and Lucius for Christmas. She was a goddess, she was _their_ goddess, and each and every one of them had made their offerings to her.

"Okay?" She asked, looking at him strangely.

"Just admiring." He gave her a roguish smile, but she missed it, instead turning towards the forest that was still covered in snow.

"It is rather pretty this time of year." She said, her hair was still swirling despite the lack of wind.

Antonin caught up with her, grabbing her hand and pulling her back against him, he felt the sting of her magic settling up against his, like holding a match for too long, and she winced. "Hogwarts has a tendency to _give_ too much to me when I'm here."

He lowered his lips to the crown of her hair, ignoring the static. "I will take, then." Antonin murmured "I will take and take, until I burn like you do."

* * *

She was sitting on a fallen tree, hunched over a book in dim moments of dusk as they waited for Rodolphus to lure the Carrows out to the forest. The meadow they had found was relatively secluded, there was no view of the castle this deep in the forest, and the darkness was approaching quickly. She refused to cast a lumos, not wanting to draw attention to herself, instead she squinted and pressed her nose almost to the pages.

He was going to finally cast the spell when he heard something crack just outside the clearing. Antonin stood up immediately and disillusioned her, she stepped behind him, her hand splayed between his shoulder blades to reassure him that she was there.

"Brother?" He asked into the darkness of the forest.

There was no reply, Antonin stepped backwards, Hermione followed, pressed up against the fallen tree. Her fingers grasped his robes and he stopped.

"I am no brother of yours." A voice called from the darkness "But we are on the same side."

A blonde centaur emerged from the forest, a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. "Bane." Hermione whispered quietly "The leader."

"I remember." Antonin hissed.

"And I can hear, Hermione Granger." Bane flicked his tail irritably.

Magic did not work on centaurs, it appeared. She was invisible to the world, but not to these creatures. She dispelled the charm.

She stepped out from behind Antonin and clutched the book she was reading closer to her chest "Bane, are we trespassing?"

"Our land is yours, Hermione Granger and friend, I have come to offer the two who freed my herd some...advice." With the last word he looked upward, Antonin did the same, all he saw was the dark canopy of the forest. "Three others are in the forest near where the sun rises."

"We're meeting them." Hermione said quickly, and then frowned "Wait."

"We _are_ meeting Rodolphus and the Carrows." Antonin insisted "That's three."

"Hogwarts is west of the forest." She said "The sun sets over Hogwarts Castle, I've watched it near the lake." She bit her lip and looked up at him "That means there are others."

Bane nodded. "We _usually_ do not trouble ourselves with human affairs, but-"

"Bring them to me." Hermione said quickly "Do not harm them."

" _Malyshka_." Antonin warned "We are busy."

Bane disappeared before Hermione made her reply, she sat back down on the tree, fiddling with the hem of her robes. "I think I know who these three are."

"You should, you helped orchestrate this plan earlier." He groused sitting next to her, crossing his arms. "Rodolphus, and the Carrows."

A white mist roughly corresponding to a dog, or some other four legged creature seeped into the meadow and Antonin recognized it as Rodolphus' old patronus. Azkaban took their patronus from them, and it was difficult to summon the happiness to bring them back. It came up to Hermione and she looked at Antonin worriedly. "It's Rodolphus, he's close."

"Ah, hello." She smiled nervously at the dog. The mist settled beside her, a tail, a protrusion of the mist, wagged.

"Through here, Antonin is waiting for you with our orders." Rodolphus' voice called out, a little louder than necessary.

Antonin pulled Hermione's hood up over her head, and she folded her hands onto her lap, only her curls were visible, her face hidden in shadow.

"Antonin _Dolohov_?" A feminine voice replied "He doesn't talk to anyone, he's one of the most trusted."

"The very same." Rodolphus replied and into the clearing stepped both of the Carrows.

"Mr. Dolohov," Alecto Carrow, a portly severe woman offered her hand out "and who is this young miss?"

Antonin stepped in front of Hermione, shielding her "Amycus, and then Alecto."

"Right." Hermione said behind him, and dropped the book to the forest floor.

Antonin shot a _stupefy_ but Hermione did a full body bind, Alecto fell with a strangled cry.

"Right then." Hermione stood up and removed her hood "You're ok, Rodolphus?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He pulled his wand out from his sleeve.

"I haven't done any work yet." Hermione walked around to Alecto's head. "A stunner makes it harder for me, their mind is foggier. She knelt down and looked at Alecto, who turned her head away.

"I'm sorry to do this Mrs. Carrow." She said and got to her knees in the snow "It won't hurt, but I can't let you hurt others. _Obliviate_."

He noticed that Hermione was gentle as she searched for the memories, physically gentle, a finger stroked the hairline of Alecto Carrow, her eyes blank, completely dead to the world. Hermione blinked and looked up, dazed for a moment before her senses came back to her.

"Ok?" Rodolphus said behind her.

"Okay, stun her." She said to Antonin as she moved to Amycus, a thin man who looked like he came from the wrong side of the tracks, his cheeks sunken in, his hair awry. She pulled his head onto her lap " _Enneverate_. Good evening, Mr. Carrow, please hold still, this won't hurt."

"Who're-"

"Sorry, _obliviate_."

Antonin felt the vibrations before he could discern what it was, putting up wards around the meadow as Hermione sifted through Alecto's memories.

"Oi!" A cry of indignance "Where're you taking us?"

"Quiet _Ron_." Another voice, this one familiar "Listen, we don't w-"

Antonin looked down at Hermione who was stroking Alecto's cheek as she worked, and then finally she exhaled, leaning down further before straightening up.

"Done. They won't torture, they won't remember how or why they hate muggleborns." Her voice was soft, tired. "Stun him."

It was swift, Amycus was unconscious before he had realized what happened.

"'Mione?"

She froze, rescinding her hand and bowing her head "I was right, this is my last chance at getting us through to them." She stood up on her own, dusting the snow off of her robes and stood beside Antonin. Bane and a few other centaurs came into the clearing, behind them tied up in rope were three dirt covered scrawny boys, one with flaming red hair.

"You've been in the Forbidden Forest instead of at Hogwarts." Hermione said, clearly disappointed "Despite my clear warning on Friday that _Hogwarts_ is key to winning this war."

Rodolphus stepped beside her, placing his hand on the small of her back for support, she was trembling.

" _Whore_." The redhead spat as they were placed before her in a neat line, two centaurs on either side of the prisoners.

"I'll take them, Bane, thank you." She said and looked up at Rodolphus "The manor."

" _Not_ the manor." Rodolphus insisted

She held out her hand and three wands flew into it. "They're unarmed, please, they need food, and we need to talk."

" _Pchelka_."

"Bind them, then!" Rodolphus turned away from her "I cannot stop you from bringing them, girl, but I can be upset about it."

"Antonin." She touched him and he felt the frisson of her magic as it settled into his "I can't do it alone."

" _Pchelka_." His tone was dangerous and perhaps he was a tad irritated with her as well. " _Stupefy_." and the three boys fell backwards into the snow next to the Carrows.

"I'm sorry, I have to help them too."

"Why?" Rodolphus protested "Why? They do nothing but hurt you!"

"Do you want this war over or not?" She crossed her arms, tilting her chin up.

"Enough." Antonin interrupted "Let's just get them to the house."


	31. Loyalties & Lies

They ate like wolves, Lucius looked like he had lost his appetite and Rodolphus kept sending him nervous glances. Yaxley picked up a spoonful of soup but on seeing the three teenage boys dribble food all over themselves in a hurry to eat, set it down. Hermione was ripping apart a dinner roll and Antonin stopped her.

"Wine... _wine_ please Winty." Her voice shook.

"Just bring the firewhiskey." Antonin said to the elf, who nodded and disappeared.

She swirled the firewhiskey around in her tea cup as she waited for dinner to conclude, trying to find some kind of courage in the bottom of the cup, Antonin sipped from his glass and slid his hand into hers underneath the table. She squeezed it and looked up at him gratefully.

"So you're fuckin' 'im, right?" The redhead pointed his fork at Antonin and Rodolphus looked like he had just swallowed a fish.

"She's fucking all of us, Weasley." Yaxley snapped "That's what we invited you here for, a great big _fucking_ orgy while we're on the precipice of a _fucking_ war."

She opened her mouth and closed it again, her face flushed pink.

There was a bang, and Antonin realized that Yaxley had driven a steak knife into the table. "Listen, you lot." Yaxley continued "You're here because Hermione. You're alive because of Hermione, and I haven't _killed_ you yet because of Hermione. So shut the _fuck_ up and quit asking about what's between her legs and listen to what the _bloody_ witch has to say, yeah?"

Neville flinched "Yes, Mister."

"Don't let him intimidate you Neville." Harry admonished through a mouthful of chicken, his green eyes turned on Hermione "Say your bit, we're busy."

"Harry, it's not like that, and I think I know what you're busy with, so if you co-"

"What made you turn, 'Mione?" Ron interrupted her and Lucius inhaled sharply. "You wouldn't spread your legs for me."

"Could _listen_ to me, I can point you in the right direction, instead of chasing after horcrux that are already destroyed."

"You know about the horcrux?" Harry asked, looking at Ron nervously "Whe-"

"Most of them are destroyed." She was shivering, Antonin rubbed her leg.

"Most of them?"

"Most of them." Rodolphus countered for her "There is one."

"Rodolphus, please." Hermione whispered, tugging on his robes. "Please, don't."

"You keeping one then?" Ron interrupted her. "These things powerful?"

"Come, Hermione." A deep baritone, Severus, interrupted them "The boy has a right to know."

There was a clatter as Harry and Ron both stood up at once "Traitor! Murderer!"

She fled.

* * *

"They _know_." She wailed through the bathroom door. "They know what I've done!"

"Come on love, just open the door, you don't have to come out." Yaxley pleaded for probably the fifteenth time in an hour. "No one knows what you've done save for us, and we've all done worse."

Antonin was sitting on the bed, staring so hard into the door he swore he could see right through it, he took another sip of firewhiskey to calm himself, and he heard a pipe burst from inside the bathroom. " _Hermione_."

She got quiet "Antonin." Her voice was small

"Open the door, _Malyshka_."

She cracked open the door a tiny bit and she was drenched in water "I can't Antonin! My magic is unstable, I keep breaking things, I don't want to hurt you."

Yaxley got to his knees first and pressed open the door a little more, reaching out and touching the fingers that grasped the edge of the wood, he hissed slightly as the magic settled and there was a distinct sound of glass breaking. Water began to seep out into the bedroom.

"Come out, yeah?" Yaxley said, grabbing her wrist "Come out and we'll chat, love."

"In here." She replied "Come inside."

Antonin got up, tossing his glass on the floor and pushed open the door, _reparo_ -ing the broken bathroom with a few flicks of his wrist, followed by another _scourgify_ as he hauled her up into his arms.

The bathroom was small. Hermione liked small places, intimate places that forced everyone to be within arms reach. Yaxley sat on the sink and Antonin sat down on the toilet with her on his lap.

"Let's talk." He said pushing some wet hair out of her eyes.

"What do you think they know? Let's start there." Yaxley said, running his fingers through his hair.

"They _know_ ," She insisted "You heard what they called me: traitor, murderer. They know I killed Dumbledore, they know I betrayed them. I'm a _bad witch_."

"Dumbledore chose to kill himself, no one made him take the poison, you made him make a choice, but it was _his_ choice."

"You're far from being bad anything." Yaxley assured.

Antonin kissed the crown of her head, suddenly feeling self conscious of his small display of affection. "You've done much good. This war is ending because of _your_ efforts."

She sniffed "Ours."

"Our efforts then." Yaxley gave her a lopsided smile "Come out then, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"No one sees what you do, and they misunderstand." Antonin said as she slid off of his lap "You are the company you keep."

"I'm in good company, really, I am" She wiped away some tears with the back of her hand "I wish everyone could see that."

"It is the downsides of consorting with murderers." Antonin pulled a towel off the rack and placed it over her head. "Rodolphus is worried, _moya lyubov_ , let's go down for a nightcap."

The portraits followed her, asking questions about the prisoners, reassuring her as she thanked them for their concern. Rodolphus was waiting in the foyer and brightened up as she came down the stairs.

"Okay?" He asked, searching her over for any obvious wounds.

She nodded and offered her hand. "Okay."

Rodolphus took her outstretched hand and pulled her into a hug. "Never doubt yourself, my dear."

She shook her head and hugged him tightly. The house watched over her, Antonin watched over her. She was safe.

* * *

She descended the stairs behind Yaxley and Antonin, her fingers loosely grabbing onto his robes as an askance for support. Bottles lined the walls down into the wine cellar, now prison, for Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom. He could hear them fighting amongst themselves even now.

The group of death eaters stood behind Hermione as she kneeled down in front of the metal cage backed up against a bare stone wall. The Potter boy was bleeding, and the redhead was bruised up with a dislocated shoulder, Antonin may or may not have been a little rough with him, Yaxley may or may not have encouraged him.

"Boys." She said, her tone held no room for argument "You have two options, you can either trust me, or forget about me."

"Forget it, whore." Ron spat and she turned her head to the side as if she had been slapped. "We-"

"Ron." Harry stopped his friend "Hermione, please. This is not what I wanted."

"What did you want, boy?" Yaxley snapped.

"Yaxley." Hermione sighed and got to her knees, sitting back on her heels she laced her fingers together. "Make a choice, Harry."

"I trust you, Hermione." Neville said quietly, Ron nudged him and he spoke a little louder "I trust her!"

Harry opened his mouth to respond but Hermione cut him off.

"If you trust me, Harry Potter, you have to trust every man in this room, including Severus Snape." She said looking up at Severus who looked away.

"Oh, it's Severus, is it?" Ron interjected.

"I trust you Hermione." Harry said firmly "If it means an end to this war, I will trust you."

"Ron?"

"Not like I have a choice then." The redhead groused.

"Hermione," Rodolphus said gently "A vow, please, this time, a vow."

"No vows." Severus replied for her "No vows."

The cage she was touching dissolved into smoke and she stood up "Merlin, could this have been any more difficult? Come with me, I'll get you patched up."

* * *

"I met a LeStrange." Harry said as she passed a few healing charms over him, Winty next to her holding a tray of medical instruments and potions. "At the Slug Club, does she live here?"

"You met me." Hermione said, leaning over him and wiping dried blood off of his forehead with a cotton ball "You used Severus' curse on me and Antonin while we were trying to get details from Professor Slughorn on Horcrux."

Harry forgot to breathe under her care, finally he spoke "Shit, Hermione, I'm sorry, are you-"

"She wasn't at the time, neither of us were." Antonin interjected "Anger issues won't get you far in life, boy."

"Antonin don't provoke him." She said and traced her finger over the cut near his eye.

Antonin was sitting behind her with Yaxley, half heartedly interested in a game of wizarding chess in the library as she healed the boys one after another, Severus came in earlier with some healing potions but left just as quickly.

"Have I seen you...somewhere else, as someone else?" Harry ventured.

Hermione shook her head. "No, but Harry we need to talk about your role in this war, and my plan to get you out of it."

"My role? I'm the bloody savi-"

"You're not." She insisted "You're not anymore."

"Hermione, the prophecy says-"

"The prophecy is shit."

Antonin hid his smile in his hand, pretending to be deep in thought, but Yaxley did no such thing, instead grinning, he looked over at Rodolphus who folded down the paper curiously. They had all heard this conversation a thousand times before, it was a mainstay argument between Rodolphus and Hermione, but today, Hermione had changed her mind.

"Dumbledore s-"

"Dumbledore lied."

Harry stood up so quickly that Hermione stumbled backwards into the elf, and the tray of medical instruments scattered. "Take it back." He seethed "Take it back."

Antonin towered over her in an instant, steadying her shoulders. "Try it again boy, upset her and what I did earlier will look kind."

"It's ok Antonin," She said, looking up at him gratefully. "I will not hold you hostage here, Harry, but I want you to listen to what I have to say. You _know_ he kept secrets from you."

"He did what he thought was right, but he _never_ lied." Harry's voice took on a desperate tone.

"How old can you be to be _this_ naive still?" Yaxley snapped, obviously irritated

"Oi!" Ron shouted next to Harry, standing up "Who're you then?"

"Yaxley." Hermione admonished. "You're just adding fuel to the fire."

"Your move, Tonin." Yaxley said, cowed, his knight slaying a pawn.

Hermione sat down across from Yaxley and Antonin sat to her left, Rodolphus put his paper away and checked her over. "I think Severus can best explain, Winty, fetch him from the kitchens, if you will."

"And why _that traitor_?" Harry sneered. "Because he was there when Dumbledore was murdered?"

"We were _all_ there, for your information." Yaxley snapped. "So get off your vendetta, Potter."

"Hermione?" Harry's voice cracked.

Hermione sent Yaxley a sharp look. "Harry, it's not like it seems."

" _Accio wands_." Harry roared and the wand flew out of her robes and he turned them on her " _Stu-_ "

Rodolphus was quick to stun them both, and Hermione let out the breath she had been holding. "Right then."

Neville walked in moments after, Hermione chewing on her lip with her arms crossed. "It's fine Neville," She said walking around the two stunned bodies of her best friends "I think you'll be leaving soon."

Antonin apparated her to Hogsmeade, in front of the Shrieking Shack, and Severus followed behind them with the three boys in tow, another crack, Rodolphus and Yaxley.

"Neville," She said leading the small group up the path up to the shack "Listen to me, and listen to me well. You are our _only_ hope. You must convince them to trust Severus, and to _trust_ that Hogwarts is the key to winning this war."

"Hermione, they don't listen to me, they don't listen to anyone." Neville looked at the two unconscious bodies of Harry and Ron nervously "They're _never_ going to listen now. You-" his voice dipped to a whisper "you killed the Headmaster."

"The Headmaster killed himself when he put on that ring last summer." Severus snapped waspishly as they filtered into the house "We were present when he died, but none of us killed the man."

He levitated the two boys to the floor and Hermione shuffled closer to Antonin for support. " _Ennerverate_." She whispered, her hands making the wand motions that were no longer needed.

Harry gasped like he had been plunged under water for ages, sitting up and turning on her. "You! You _stunned_ us?"

"I need you here, I need you to know that Hogwarts is the key to winning this war, February is the end. Please Harry _listen to me_." She pleaded and pulled two wands out of her sleeve, getting to her knees so that she was eyelevel.

Antonin bit his tongue. How dare she lower herself for these men. How dare she lower herself for _anyone_.

"Traitor. Traitor and-" his eyes flew up to the men behind her " _whore_. Ron was right, he was _right_ once we heard you were still living."

She dropped the wands on the dusty floorboards with a clatter. "Even a whore has brains, Harry Potter, and if you want to live, you'll listen to this one."

"You admit it?" He snatched the wands away from her and handed it to Ron. Neville was standing closest to the door ready to bolt "I trusted you Hermione."

"Then trust me now." She said clasping her hands over her lap "I don't care if I'm a traitor, a whore, a murderer, or _anything_ but you must listen to me. I have a way of winning, and you have nothing."

"He has The Order, the prophecy, and _me_." Ron spat, pointing his wand towards her "He doesn't need some easy _tart_ like you telling him what to do."

Rodolphus inhaled sharply

"Please, consider it." Hermione implored, standing back up and dusting off her robes. "If you need my help, contact Severus. He's your only tie to me now."

She turned to Antonin and touched his arm. He didn't need her to say anything, he knew instinctively. He wrapped his arms around her and apparated before they could get another word edgewise. Hermione collapsed into sobs in the front drive. Rabastan looked perplexed, they all did.

"Come, love." Yaxley was first to speak. "Let's get you washed up."

She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and looked up. "I've lost so much, I've _lost so much_." Her voice was a whisper and she hid her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with sobs. "I've lost it all."

Antonin got to his knees, picking her up, a ball of fabric and tears, and carried her to bed. Sleep, some sleep was all that could help now.


	32. Entanglements & Espionage

He woke up to his name.

"Antonin." She whispered. "Antonin are you awake?"

" _Malyshka_." His voice was still gravelly with sleep, he turned over in bed and opened his eyes to see her face looking at him with concern, her nose inches away from his, her hair wild and untamed, the way he liked it best. "What time is it?"

She turned back to look out the windows, the dim light pre-dawn illuminated her only just, her features softer in the morning light. "Dunno," She mumbled and turned back to him "About earlier-"

He tucked some hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear, a blush rising on her cheeks. "Hmm?" He was not the most eloquent when he woke, but the way she licked her lips made him forget every word in every language.

"Do you think, I'm some sort of whore? That-"

"Don't call yourself that." He realized he was stroking her hair, her eyes were closed, her hands reached for him underneath the covers, fingertips brushing against his bare torso, he forgot to breathe. "Forget what they said."

"It hurts." She said, he could see tears forming underneath her lashes even if her eyes were closed.

Antonin let his hand fall from her hair, sliding it down her body and pulling the covers down with it, stopping at her waist and pulling him close to her. He could get rid of her pain, all of her hurt with a few choice kisses, a few choice words. He kissed her forehead, brushing some tears away with his thumb. "Let me, _moya lyubov_."

She exhaled shakily and tilted her head to look up at him, her eyes red rimmed. How long had she hurt? He kissed each eyelid, feeling her fingers splay against his chest as she stilled under his touch. "Give yourself to me, _moya lyubov_ , and I will take all the hurt for you."

"Antonin." Her voice was barely above a whisper, as if the whole house was listening to her, Antonin held his breath just to hear her voice. "I've always been yours."

He kissed her nose, tilting her head up with his fingers so that her mouth was inches from his. "Let me, _moya lyubov_ , give you everything."

He kissed her gently on the lips, afraid that she'd bolt from the bed, or reject him, but instead she kissed him shyly in return, opening her mouth only slightly so that he could deepen the kiss. Everything she did drove him wild, every small movement, every sigh into the kiss was only for his benefit he was sure. It was a gift she had, to know intensely everything he'd ever loved about a woman and combined it all in one.

Her hands slid around his back, pulling herself flush against him as his tongue tangled with hers, inhaling her scent, memorizing the way her body moulded against his. She was an excellent kisser, and he knew that he taught her how to kiss him, how to steal his breath away and surprise him. The hand that was cupping her face slid down her neck, enjoying the way she moved against him like fluid, breaking the kiss to expose her neck to him, giving him everything he wanted, access to any part he wanted.

He reached the collar, and in a fit of impatience, her nightgown was gone. "Antonin," Her tone was playful "That was expensive."

He rolled her until he was on top. "This is expensive." He said, kissing the scar that he had left on her, thankful that she had it at all. It was a memory of their first meeting, something that would be on her forever, marking her as his. "You're expensive."

He ignored the insistent tightness as his cock strained against his pajama pants, kissing down to her collarbone before he paused. "Hermione," He rarely used her name, it was a spell that made her breath hitch and her eyes widen "Tell me to stop."

She shook her head "I've wanted this, I've wanted you for so long, I would never." Her fingers threaded through his hair, pulling him closer "Please, Antonin."

His lips lingered on the scar, before beginning to trail his kisses lower, he stopped at the valley between her breasts, her _perfect_ round breasts that he had dreamt about on more than one occasion. "I could never deny you. I could never deny you _anything_."

He kissed lower, his lips lingering on the scar tissue, her chest rising and falling with each breath under his lips, her fingers tightening and relaxing as he kissed and licked down her body. She would sometimes let out small gasps and sighs, but other times, a muffled moan as she tried to hide her pleasure from him. There was no use hiding anything from him, she was bare to him now, she was truly _his_ now.

"Antonin please, I'm so hot." She begged as his lips met her belly button, the scar curved to her side, but he would not, instead he began to kiss lower, his lips lingering longer, his tongue licking the sweat that began to form on her pale skin. "Please."

His hands grabbed onto her hips, his thumbs resting on her hip bones as his mouth travelled lower, stopping just above her mound of pubic hair, her legs squeezed together beneath him. "Hermione." He kissed the apex of her thighs "Burn for me."

She spread her legs shyly as he sat back on his knees, enjoying the way she watched him with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity. He trailed one hand down her body and cupped her mound, her hips jerking upwards to meet him that made her turn her head away.

He dipped his index finger into her slit. Merlin, she was already so _wet_ for him. He had never had a woman like her before. He had never had a woman who was turned on by him by something so simple as kisses. He lowered himself down between her legs, kissing the top of her slit. She smelled like vanilla here too, vanilla and the musky scent of arousal. It was intoxicating.

"Antonin, you do-"

His tongue darted out to taste her, wondering if she tasted as good as she smelled. His erection pressed painfully into the mattress. It had been so long since he had a woman, but for her he'd wait another ten years. His tongue teased the hard nub and she squealed, her hands tightening on his hair painfully as she squirmed under his tongue. His other hand held her hips down as he circled her clit with his tongue.

He would worship every inch of her, give her every pleasure, show her what it meant to be a _woman_ not just a witch. He had to wait, but it was almost impossible. Each time he licked her wet slit, she would moan his name, and it was a lightning bolt of pleasure through his body. "Please." She whined as he circled her swollen clit with his tongue "Please, I want to feel you, Antonin."

He pulled her against his mouth, his tongue sliding into her, tasting her, savoring her. She squeaked his name out, and he hummed against her wetness, causing her to arch her body up, and _beg_. Oh but she was so good at begging. "Antonin _please_."

He kissed her, each inch of her slit, his lips working his way back up her body. She was driving him mad, and she seemed to enjoy it as much as he did, a mischievous smile playing at her lips as she studied him, nestling himself between her thighs, his cock resting against her slit. He wanted to take her, to own her, to _claim_ her.

"Give yourself to me, _Antonin_." She echoed his words from earlier "I will take all the hurt away."

His eyes flashed dangerously as he looked down at the small girl who had changed everything. She reached up and cupped his face, her thumb brushing against his stubble, her chest rising and falling as they both waited for one to give in.

"Hermione." It was all he could say, it was the only word his mind could form. He positioned the tip of his cock at her entrance and felt resistance "Hermione, you're sure?"

She nodded "I know, I'm sure."

He kissed her deeply, unable to tell her what a gift it was to be her first, to teach her everything it meant to be loved as he pushed his throbbing cock inside of her, trying to swallow her small cry of pain as he focused on her tight heat that was enveloping him. He wondered if he was going to make it even all the way inside of her without spilling his seed inside of her. She was heaven, every inch of her was heaven. Finally he felt his hips meet hers and he stilled inside of her, his breathing heavy as he focused on anything _but_ her to show her he wasn't some randy fifteen year old boy.

She broke the kiss first and looked up at him, her eyes searching his, tears wetting her eyelashes. "Brave girl, _my girl_." He kissed both of her eyes again. "Tell me...tell me when you're ready."

She bit her lip and nodded, her arms looping around his neck as he moved slowly at first, to try and last a little longer than a few seconds, to try and lessen the pressure he was feeling, to try and ignore her delicious tightness, but Hermione was never patient, her hips began to buck up to meet his, bottoming out on each thrust. "Give me _all_ of you, Antonin." She begged, his name ending in a moan "Give me _all of you_."

Each thrust was a temptation, but he wanted to show her what sex was supposed to be like, a slow burning that filled her completely, ran through every nerve ending she had. He slid his hands upwards until her hands were pinned down into the pillows, lacing each fingers with hers, enjoying the way she squeezed him a little tighter as he bottomed out inside of her, as her body struggled to adjust to his size, as she tasted pleasure for the first time.

He tried focus on something other than her sweet heat, the mewling way she said his name, the way she kissed his collarbone and her lips lingered on his skin. He tried to hold out a little longer, to take her a little slower, to _love_ her instead of possess her.

He couldn't. He didn't want to end this too soon, but the way she begged, the way she said his name. It was a perfection. "Hermione." He growled, his hands holding down her hips as he began to fuck her, to claim her "My love, my _only_ , mine."

She pulled him to her for a searing kiss and he could not pretend any longer. He pulled her down onto him roughly, burying his cock deep inside of her as he spilled his seed, as he made her his, his cock throbbed painfully against her tight walls. She tore her lips from his.

"I love you, Antonin Dolohov." She panted, looking up at him with a type of adoration he never would deserve. "I love you."

He sat upright, pulling out of her and cupping her slit with his hand, his index finger making quick circles around her swollen clit. She hitched her breath and widened her eyes, her legs kicking off the last of the blankets as he drove her to madness.

"Let go Hermione, let go my love." He said, rubbing harder "Let me see you fall apart."

"Please, please, don't stop." Her voice was hoarse, it was desperate. "Please."

" _Moya Lyubov_." He growled in Russian. " _Otpuskat_."

It was her undoing, she fell apart beautifully, her body going taut underneath his hands, her eyes fluttering shut as she pressed her head back against the pillows, his name repeated like a prayer until it was just a sigh.

He licked his fingers before laying down next to her, propping his head up on his hand to watch her recover.

"Antonin." She said again, she had said it a thousand times. "Antonin."

"I know." He kissed her gently "Sleep."

He pulled her into his arms, protecting her, making sure this was all real.

"Antonin." She murmured into the pillow, daylight was streaming in through the windows. "I love you."

"I love you, _pchelka_."

He'd never forget the look she gave him, it was brighter than any sunrise. It was _happiness_ , and he had given it to her.

* * *

She blushed whenever she saw him the next day, Yaxley raised an eyebrow at breakfast as he sat down beside her and she suddenly stopped talking.

"Oh, I see." Yaxley said finally, a knowing smile "I _see_."

"Yaxley!" She said, alarmed "Don't see _anything_."

" _Finally_." He said, opening the paper and ignoring the couple.

Antonin eyed the headline and smiled to himself.

 **KINGSLEY SHACKLEBOLT SWORN IN AS INTERIM MINISTER**

"The Order's man." He gestured with his fork to the headline.

Hermione looked up and shook her head. "How utterly stupid. They're going to embroiled in this Ministry takeover for weeks." Rodolphus sat down beside her "We'll be lucky if they even remember the Dark Lord is planning to attack in February."

"You forget that it was our plan to keep them embroiled for weeks." Rodolphus said picking up the Business section that Yaxley had discarded "We can blame no one but ourselves. Antonin, eat quickly, there is _business_ to take care of."

"Business?" She was digging around her porridge, avoiding eating, avoiding his eyes.

"The unsavory sort, love." Yaxley said and looked at her critically "Eat some breakfast."

"Professor Bu-"

"No, one of those _Weasley_ 's that you know of, a Percy." Rodolphus cut her off while turning a page.

"Murder?" She gasped, setting her bowl down. "Please, you-"

"Initiation." Rodolphus said "Initiations are worse than murder, oh yes they involve murder, but they're messy, blood rites, family magic, the lot."

"Percy...is a death eater?" She was shocked "But his family."

"I assume," Yaxley said as he refilled his tea, "That he means to be a spy for the Order. There was no reason for him to choose any side, as if I remember he was some boring oaf who helped the Minister from time to time of little importance."

"A spy." She sighed "Should...we meet?"

"Absolutely not," Rodolphus snapped "Every Weasley that comes in contact with you calls you a whore, or tries to curse you, or both! The whole family is bad."

"Eat!" Antonin pushed her bowl towards her "Stop worrying."

She looked at him with a strange emotion in her eyes before digging into her porridge. "I just wanted to help."

* * *

"We've had a few run-ins with an Arthur Weasley at Ministry functions." Rodolphus said trudging up the hill, his hands buried in his pockets.

Percy Weasley wore cheap clothes that looked expensive, clinging to his willowy frame as the wind blew all three of them. His red hair was neatly trimmed, his shoes had a glamor to make them appear brand new. If there was one phrase to describe Percy Weasley it was _keeping up appearances._

"We've had a few run ins with a few Weasleys." Antonin groused, remembering the youngest one, a Ron Weasley, who had insulted Hermione not a few days ago.

"I may have the last name," his voice sounded strained "but I am _not_ the same as my family."

"What are you doing here, kid?" Antonin asked the redhead who was shaking in front of him "You _clearly_ don't want to be doing this."

Percy whirled back on him, terror shone in his eyes "I _have_ to, Mr. Dolohov. I have to do what's right."

The three of them stood at the top of a hill, in front of a rickety old house that Antonin knew held Dumbledore's brother, he was an outspoken member of the Order, their current head. "What do you think is right, then?" Rodolphus asked "Betraying your family?"

"No, they said... _Hermione_." Percy looked at the ground "They said she was with you, and no one will listen to me about it, but if she's a death eater, she's the brightest witch I've ever met, she's a muggleborn! She must _know_ something about you...you lot that I don't know."

Antonin sighed and stared at his shoes too "How many of you lot decided to turn because you heard about the girl?"

"Just me...I needed to know for myself." He looked hopeful "She's okay?"

Rodolphus let out a huff of air in disbelief, looking back at the house "How many of you lot are _thinking_ about turning because you've heard about the girl?"

"Just...just a few, Penelope say-"

"You will still have to kill the old man, you know." Antonin cut him off "We cannot leave without blood on our hands."

"I'll do it!" Percy said a little louder than Antonin would have liked. Percy held his wand up "I can do this, for Hermione."

"Now we have one thing in common." Rodolphus said walking up the steps to the house "Let's see if we can make it two."

Aberforth was quietly standing in the kitchen when the broke in, waiting like a lamb to the slaughter, confirming Yaxley's suspicion that Percy was intended to spy. The old man had his wand in one hand in a book in the other.

Rodolphus was irritated, Antonin was annoyed. "The Order really has run out of ideas." Antonin said, plucking the book out of the old man's hands. "Are you waiting for your savior?"

"Please," Aberforth said, his voice cracked "Don't kill me."

"They know already, sir." Percy said "That we're trying to get back to Hermione."

The old man relaxed slightly and lowered his wand, "Was it obvious?"

"I blew our cover." Percy hung his head "I am no spy."

"No boy, you are not, but you had no one to turn to."

"You _will_ end up dying." Rodolphus said, peeking over Antonin's shoulder to see the contents of the book.

Family magic, _ancestral_ magic, a whole tome on it. He opened it up to a page that went over the leylines.

"Harry and Ron told us...all of us, some _rubbish_ as they called it about Hogwarts being the key, and I assumed that meant only one thing, that you, or your master had finally discovered the power source that lies in the courtyard." Aberforth walked back towards the stove where a tea kettle was warming up "You, or your master, or a curious Hermione Granger. Tea?"

Antonin sat down at the weathered kitchen table, running his fingers along a scorch mark in the wood. "Why not."

Rodolphus sat beside him "What of her?"

"There were a few ways we tried to get Hermione back, to our side once we discovered she was still alive. We detected her at Hogwarts during the Christmas hols, but could not find her again, she was gone before any Order members could make it to the Christmas Party." Aberforth sat down at the table and levitated a tea set over to them "We sent Remus, and Bill to where she was last spotted in hopes of coaxing her back, but again, she evaded capture and we lost Remus, currently trapped on the reservation. When we sent Hagrid out to check the giants, we had managed to capture her, but, she was gone again before we could assemble everyone to the cottage."

Percy was leaning against a counter, Antonin wondered how close she had been to danger all along. "Hermione was always set up to be our _master strategist_ , we had been raising her as soon as we saw her brilliance. She can see far more than anyone else can. My brother subtly guided her for the position since she was accepted into the school, and we _lost_ her. We couldn't let that happen, but all our rescue attempts failed. How could we outdo someone we created to be infallible in strategy?"

"So you manipulated her?" Rodolphus was still, his voice was grave.

"It's no better than what you are doing with her now." Aberforth waved him off "Without her, without Dumbledore, the Order became useless. Now that she knows what Hogwarts is, and she controls it, what is the Order but a shell? We needed her back, we still need her back, for the _good_."

"You are _not_ good." Antonin replied, his Russian accent so thick his words were almost unintelligible. They used her, they were going to _continue_ to use her as if she was some kind of weapon.

"You're not good either, Antonin Dolohov." Aberforth replied and took a sip of his tea "Her magic runs through you, both of you, we may use her for her brains, but you use her for something worse. Magic is not the only thing you two share." His eyes darted towards Rodolphus and then back to Antonin.

Rodolphus fired off a _crucio_ before Antonin could even begin to make the movements for a _diffindo_ and Aberforth crashed down onto the table, twitching silently underneath the red glow. "She is _family_ and she will not be used by a bunch of power hungry old men."

"Then what are you!" Percy said withdrawing his wand "Power hungry old men! Using her the way that she was meant to be used, a weapon, a _tool_ to get out of a bad situation. Admit it! _Expellarmus!_ "

Antonin deflected it, it was useless anyways, none of them had needed a wand for some time. "I do not _use_ her." Antonin snapped "No one uses anyone. We are _together_ in this."

Aberforth was twitching and panting as he sat back in his chair "And what is this _incestuous_ relationship you have?"

Rodolphus was incensed, Antonin saw the wand motions before they were even made. "Av-"

"No." Antonin grabbed Rodolphus and pulled his hand down to his side "Not until we find out what he knows. Patience."

"We _share_ magic, she is heir to the LeStrange estate, she is _romantically_ involved with Antonin. Is it not normal to have her magic? She has ours."

"Why would she share your magic, LeStrange? A legal adoption has no bearing on the family magic." Aberforth narrowed his eyes "Only blood adoption, only if you were _romantically_ entangled with her too."

"We...we're not anything like that."

"So you willingly shared your magic with her? She shared your magic with you? Or did Antonin an-"

Antonin flushed scarlet "Absolutely-"

"Not!" Rodolphus finished, gripping the back of the chair he was now standing behind. "No one…" Rodolphus paused and looked at his hands, his knuckles white. "Explain what you know. Explain it! Boy, put down that wand! _Expelliarmus!_ "

Percy was knocked backwards and Aberforth jumped as the boy crashed into the stove. "Magic is shared, willingly or unwillingly through _romantic_ entanglements, two people, if they're in love, will meter their magic into one another, feeding and growing as the relationship does. Curse me again, either of you, and I will tell you no more."

Rodolphus was quiet for a moment, before speaking, his voice was grave, his tone was low. "Kill him."

A diffindo, and the chair was knocked backwards, Aberforth Dumbledore made a choking noise as his shaking hands went up to his throat, his hands covered in his own blood as he bled out on the floor. He only suffered for a few seconds, and a few seconds was all Rodolphus needed to stun Percy.

"Grab the book, leave the body." Rodolphus said, dragging Percy Weasley by his cheap robes, his shoes thumping against the seams in the hardwood.

Antonin remembered to turn off the stove.


	33. Love & Lost

She shrieked when Percy Weasley was thrown at her feet while she was curled up in the library. Rodolphus was in a thunderous mood. Antonin handed her the dusty book on family magic and gave her a weak smile.

"I must call Lucius." Rodolphus said and stalked off.

"What's wrong?" She said looking up at him worriedly, but once she realized that he too, was unscathed, she turned her attention to the body at her feet "Dead?"

"Stunned." Antonin said across from her "Yaxley?"

"Showering, I think." She said and put a bookmark in the book she had been reading, setting it atop of the book Antonin brought her. She crouched down to Percy, pushing him over on his back. "He's all banged up."

"He tried to defend himself." Antonin sighed and scratched the beginnings of his beard " _Pchelka_ , they're seeking you out."

"Me? _Ennerverate_." She whispered and Percy's eyes flew open. "Hello then, Percy, please remain still while I check you over."

His eyes darted to Antonin and then he closed his eyes, his breathing sped up considerably. _Terror_. He cared little, fear would save the boy in the end.

"The Order has fallen apart, and they think _you_ are their savior, right, Weasley?" Antonin nudged the redheaded boy with his foot, Percy let out a sad moan. "They claimed that they have manipulating you since you were a _firstie_ in order to be their master strategist, isn't that right, _Weasley_." He nudged the boy a little harder, his anger getting the better of him "That they'd stop at nothing and no one to get you back under their wing, isn't that right, _Weasley_."

"Ok!" Hermione said smacking at his ankle "Ok, I get it."

"Hermione, don't." Percy said as she ran a few preliminary healing charms "I don't deserve your kindness."

"Don't think my kindness comes for free, I wil-"

"Hermione!" Rodolphus shouted in the hall and she looked up from Percy.

"I haven't _left_." She called back "I'm in the same place!"

Rodolphus had Lucius and Severus and a wet looking Yaxley trailing behind him as he stormed into the library. "We need to talk."

She ran another diagnostic spell before sitting back on her haunches. "Talk away. You're fine, Percy, just a bit bruised up."

Rodolphus stunned Percy again and Hermione gave him a look of disapproval.

Lucius spoke before she could chastise anyone. "We've found the cause of your problems."

"Oh." She stood up now, looking at Antonin worriedly, he walked around the table and sat down next to her, tugging on her hand to do the same. "Is it...bad?"

"Remember, _malyshka_ , when you told me that Hogwarts had a tendency to give too much when you visited?" Antonin said as she nestled in next to him, arranging her robes nervously and looking from him to Rodolphus. "What if other people were _giving_ too much?"

"Well," She said looking at all the men in the room "Is that what's happening?"

"Specifically," Lucius said, sitting down across from her "We have unconsciously shared our magic with you. All of us, which is why you're so powerful...and becoming unstable."

"Is there a way to stop it? Do we _want_ to stop it? Obviously it is not a one way street." She looked at Antonin "I've shared magic, consciously before, but I can feel that."

"We don't know why we _started_ sharing in the first place, if I understand correctly." Yaxley ventured "So, I don't know if we know how to stop."

"I know why." Rodolphus replied "I...Hermione, I think of you like a daughter to me, I care for you a great deal. The Dumbledore brother said that if you are _romantically_ involved with someone you will end up sharing magic, but could it not be this...other type of romance?"

"On the night that we met," She began shyly, skirting over the issue of _how_ they met "There was a prophecy."

" _Hermione_ , now is not the time." Rodolphus said.

"Hear me out!" She said, sitting up on the edge of her seat "Hear me out, in the prophecy, it said that there would be a _power_ that the dark lord doesn't know about. What if...what if this was it?"

"Romance?" Yaxley raised an eyebrow.

"No, you idiot, love, support, family, or whatever you may call it. We all became considerably more powerful once we came together and supported each other, our magic flowed freely between great families and leylines. When was the last time anyone needed a wand? Do you even remember? The Dark Lord doesn't know about family, or friends, or whatever this-" she gestured to everyone "-group wants to be called. He has no one, and this is the power he doesn't know about. Just like in the prophecy."

Lucius picked up the book on the table that they had gotten from Aberforth and began to skim through it. "If it's something that will help us get out of this situation, then it's fine with me."

"Agreed," Severus said, leaning against the mantle over the fire "However, Hermione, if it ever becomes too much-"

"We agree that one person should always stay around our little dove at all times, just like aurors, and there should _be_ no problems." Yaxley said casting a drying charm on himself. "Has metering your magic out through touch worked?"

Hermione nodded.

"Then that settles it." Yaxley said and looked relieved "I don't know why we're all sharing magic, but if it works in our favor then it works."

"You always were a _simple man_ Yaxley." Lucius said beside him, perusing the book.

"Better a simple man than a peacock." Yaxley shot back.

"Drolly!" Hermione called, and an elf appeared "Get us some tea, and-"

"Biscuits miss, the chocolate kind." The elf replied before disappearing.

"Am I so transparent?" She said looking at Antonin.

"Are we okay with this then? Sharing magic is not something to be taken lightly." Rodolphus asked.

"Are _you_ okay with it?" Hermione asked, bending over to check on Percy. "I know blood purity and all that."

"That kind of drivel doesn't matter to me." Rodolphus said "I just don't want you hurt, or forced to-"

"What's mine is yours." She said and grabbed his hand "I care a great deal about you too, Rodolphus LeStrange."

Antonin saw him squeeze her hand and bow his head, his unkempt hair falling in front of his face in an attempt to hide his smile, but Hermione positively beamed.

* * *

"At this hour?" He said, his eyes falling on the clock on the far wall, a little after two. Hermione was fast asleep on his arm and Winty was loathe to wake her, so of course, he was woken first.

"Old Master says it's a Mister Severus Snape."

They had been called tonight, and they had all just gotten back from a long meeting where they were lectured like errant children by a man who was not much older than he was. The Dark Lord explained that he was boosting morale of the troops, but Antonin doubted it.

" _Pchelka_." He whispered into her hair, silently hoping that she wouldn't get up so he didn't have to.

"If Rodolphus is up, then I should probably be up." Her voice was crystal clear, she had been awake the whole time. "He just left not an hour ago, it must be important."

She drew herself up and yawned, her hair sticking in every direction as she slid out of bed, padding barefoot out of the room "Come Antonin," she said "Let's see what Severus needs."

Percy was shaking on the floor of the living room, Severus was leaning against the mantle, running his fingers through his greasy hair.

"What is this?" Antonin snapped, his tiredness getting the better of him.

"War." Severus said as Hermione crouched down and rubbed Percy's back soothingly "It seems that becoming a _spy_ isn't as easy as joining up with the other side and not telling."

Percy turned on Severus angrily from the floor, almost knocking Hermione over "I had to kill _so many_ and for what reason?"

"Come Percy," Hermione said offering her hand "Let's get some tea, yeah?"

"You don't understand! You...you've been in this house the whole time, I'-"

"I understand." She said and smiled warmly "But you can tell me more once we get some chocolate biscuits in you."

He took her hand and Severus seemed to relax, Rodolphus sighed, watching her retreating form as she led Percy out of the room.

"Do you ever wonder how she can love so much?" Rodolphus asked.

Antonin shook his head, he just received, with Hermione, all he could do was receive.

* * *

"Yaxley." She said swirling her tea leaves in the bottom of her cup a few days later in the library "You were the reason that Antonin came and visited me, weren't you?"

Yaxley hummed in agreement "Was it obvious?"

"Not until today." She said leaning back on the loveseat next to Antonin who was pretending to read a book. "When I remembered that you had bought me clothes first out of everyone in the house this morning while Winty was picking out my robes."

"You've become such a spoiled brat, look at you." He waved to her robes, and he was right, she was dressed in fineries that Narcissa would have worn if she was still with them. "Yes, the first trip to Harrod's was burnt thanks to someone's temper."

"Why?" The word hung in the air.

Yaxley folded the paper he had been reading and smoothed over the images with his fingers. "When...when we were all released for Azkaban, Antonin didn't speak, he didn't move, he didn't...anything really. I mean, we were all messed up love, fifteen years in prison _does things_ that I never want to explain to a little sprite like you because it's all-" he waved his hands "-anyways, our first mission after the Dark Lord had sprung us free was to meet up with you lot in the Department of Mysteries and even though Antonin had hardly wanted to do anything, he wanted _you_."

"Yax." Antonin warned.

"It's true," Yaxley continued "and he hurt you, but he wanted to _save_ you too. Merlin, he snatched your body away from that stupid boy, the one that's scared of Severus, and brought you back with him. You were thrown in the dungeons with Lucius and Luna because Lucius outed you as Potter's, excuse my language, Mudblood."

"But why?" She looked at Antonin now.

Antonin closed his eyes and tried to remember every feature of that night, he tried to forget it so many times. The night he cursed her. It haunted him, but he would never forget _why_ he had been so drawn to her. "Your fire."

She bit her lip before responding. "My fire?"

"You burned so brightly that night, I knew then, that you were mine." Antonin said, closing his book "And I was right."

"Lo and behold," Yaxley said "You had gotten our revenge for us, Lucius Malfoy was covered in _mudblood_ and completely horrified, and _that_ is when I realized that you were meant to be with us, love. Because anyone who can torment Lucius Malfoy like that is _destined_ to be with me."

"Is that true?" She asked looking up at Antonin, nestling into his side.

"Something like that." Antonin liked the way she smiled at that.

There were a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Thank you, Corban."

"Don't call me that, love. I hate it."

"Thank you, Yaxley."

"You're welcome, love."

* * *

She was laying in bed at the end of the week, holding the ring above her head and looking at it in the firelight. He was getting undressed from another meeting with their lord, they were frequent now, they were tedious. "You knew, back at Christmas, how you felt about me, didn't you?" Her voice was tired, she had stayed up for him again.

"Malyshka, even now I don't know how I feel about you." A lie. "You have a meeting with Fenrir in the morning, why are you still up?"

She rolled over and looked at him, the ring still on it's chain was now on her wedding finger. "This is fit for me."

"It's a magical ring." A lie.

She smiled "I won't say yes until you ask me properly, _in english_."

He stopped unbuttoning his shirt and looked back over his shoulder at the vixen in his bed. " _Po-russki_?"

She blushed, a wider smile appearing on her features. "English!"

He slid into bed, crawling ontop of her. "But _pchelka_ , I thought you liked it when I spoke to you in Russian?"

His hands slid up her arms pinning them above her head, snapping the chain around her neck, but she moaned, her body arching up to his.

"I might." She licked her lips.

His voice dipped an octave as his lips brushed against hers. "I know a lot of things you might like." A truth.

* * *

She was sleeping after a long night with the vampires who were considerably less dangerous now that she was a virgin, curled up into Yaxley's side like a kitten when he came home from his "search" for Fenrir who had gone missing in recent weeks.

"The vampires have agreed to banish the dementors from England, apparently they're ineffective against vampires?" Yaxley said flipping another page in a magazine "We had some...magical problems this afternoon and now she's sleeping it off."

"Magical problems?" He sat down across from them and she turned in her sleep to burrow herself deeper into the couch.

"The Order has been in touch with the vampires again, and well, let's just say our vampire friends were a little less than welcoming." Yaxley flipped another page, then another. Adverts playing on the glossy pages.

"Ah," Antonin replied and picked up the well worn copy of the prophet "Drolly, Winty, some lunch?"

The elves who were dusting the portraits on the far end of the room disappeared.

"So what happened?"

"Another Weasley, another sacrifice, another vampire." Yaxley waved it off "This one was a girl, their youngest. She was turned this past weekend, offered up by The Order in a bid for alliance, but when she wasn't a virgin, problems arose."

"They're running out of options." Antonin groused, reading the obituaries.

"They're running out of Weasleys." Yaxley replied.

Hermione woke up with lunch, tired, her eyes red with crying. "Poor Ginny," She said "another loss in a sea of loss."

Antonin didn't know how to comfort her, he filled up her plate with her favorite foods, and she ate.

Comfort enough.

* * *

Fenrir ate dinner with them, bringing along Remus Lupin for entertainment, for Hermione's amusement, Antonin decided. It was a stark contrast to the Remus Lupin he had met before, desperate and deranged. Now, sat a man who seemed content, a prisoner to Fenrir but not to desires. Eating alongside his alpha, _laughing_ alongside his alpha

She was holding a glass of wine as she spoke with him later, when the party that was a normal dinner had dwindled to only the men who lived with her, speaking to Remus Lupin seriously.

"What changed?" Her words echoed his thoughts.

Remus looked taken aback and turned away from her and stared into the fire that was more embers than anything else. "I was so angry with you, when we first met, but I understand now, everything really, I understand."

She seemed content with that answer, looking up at Antonin who was nursing a firewhiskey beside her on the loveseat. "Good." Antonin said gruffly, trying to put the past behind him "Good."

"You are good, Hermione. I regret doubting you, I am sure The Order will too once the realize the...breadth of what you, and Rodolphus...and all of you have done." He looked at his alpha briefly "You've saved so many lives, our pack, the children, all of it."

She was quiet for a moment. "I have a favor to ask of you, and your alpha."

Fenrir who was talking with Rodolphus turned his attention to her. "Anything girl, anything."

"Remus," She tested the name "I need you to go back, and I need you to get Harry back to Hogwarts before next week is over."

Remus looked like he had swallowed a fish "Now?"

"Now." Fenrir insisted "You will do as she asked, dog."

"Yes, of course, alpha."

It was only later that he found out what Remus had meant by her saving so many lives, when he was studying the back gardens from his window at dawn, and saw footprints in the snow at the edge of the woods. Wolf children had been playing at the edge of the forest.

She had moved the pack to the estate to hide them from their lord before their lord had even thought to look for Fenrir. He looked back at the girl sleeping in his bed.

Where was she going to put the giants?

* * *

Percy was always with Severus when he visited, she was taking tea with them in the kitchen when he and Yaxley returned from another fruitless mission, this time to the giants who were missing.

"A terror, more than before." He overheard Severus say as he entered the kitchen.

"Even I must agree." Percy said stirring his tea slowly "I never thought-"

"Guests?" Yaxley said, sitting down beside her. "Is this the Harry Potter support club?'

"The only member of the Harry Potter support club, Yaxley, is me." Hermione said, summoning another tea cup for him "How was your mission?"

"Fruitless, he thinks the Order has _gotten_ to them, but I don't know where they've gotten to love."

"Rabastan has _gotten_ to them," She said pouring his tea. "and they have _gotten_ to the forbidden forest."

"As if running Hogwarts is not nightmare enough, now I can see the giants from my tower." Severus scoffed, but she refilled his cup.

"How's your sister then?" Yaxley said picking a scone off of the plate and breaking it in half, offering it to Hermione who gladly took it.

"She's coping, Hermione put in a good word of course," Percy said, his voice detached "It's just hard to believe that...they would send her."

"Knowing Ginny, she sent herself, but they're running out of people, Percy, you know that."

"We're running out of people, and we're running out of time." Percy caressed his teacup. "You're all we've got left."

"Harry is all we've got left, I'm just getting us all there." She said "and now that he's back in Hogwarts he has to stay there for two more weeks, until the ball."  
Severus nodded "Until the ball, will you attend Hermione?"

"Why, Severus, are you asking me on a date?" She batted her eyes dramatically.

Yaxley laughed.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall showed up on their doorstep with the Minister of Magic on a unusually warm Tuesday in February, ten days before the final battle. Antonin was sitting with Rodolphus and Rabastan in the sitting room when the elf came. Hermione was in the library pouring over the book on the family magic with Lucius.

"A Misters Shacklebolt and Missus McGonagall here to see you sirs." Winty was wringing her hands, she wore a fiery red dress that matched Hermione's robes today, he noticed that the elves liked to match her. "Shall I fetch the Mistress?"

Rodolphus shook his head. "Just tell her that they're here, and we will fetch her once we're ready. Lead them into the drawing room after."

The house was quiet and then he heard the voices "We're here to see a Miss Hermione LeStrange." Kingsleys voice was deep and Antonin rolled his eyes. Hermione would kill if she heard them referring to her as a LeStrange.

"To what do I owe this visit, Professor, Minister?" Rodolphus said standing up.

Antonin did not stand, he did not move, regarding the two visitors critically.

"We are here for Hermione, Mr. LeStrange." Minerva's lips formed a tight line, everything about this woman was controlled.

"I will ask that you turn over your wands then before I summon her." Rodolphus said and offered his hand "You can have them back when you leave."

"I will do _no such thing_."

"Then you will see no such girl and you will leave." Antonin replied coolly "Our house, our rules."

Kingsley looked at the grumpy death eater warily and handed over his wand "Come on, Minerva, there's no time to be petty."

Minerva withdrew her wand as well, laying it across Rodolphus' palm. Rodolphus handed both to Drolly, who was dressed in a fire red suit in an effort to match the mistress. "Winty, fetch Lucius and Hermione."

"No need," A soft voice said from the doorway "I'm here."

Hermione wore her fetching burgundy robes today, a gold phoenix hairpin holding her hair in a low bun and away from her face. She was holding the book on family magic and behind her towered Lucius who was looking better lately, but not by much, a five o'clock shadow and wrinkled robes. The absence of Narcissa seen and felt.

"Miss Granger"

"Miss LeStrange."

"It's Granger, what have you been telling them Rodolphus." She said walking into the room and sitting down beside Antonin, smiling up at him.

"Nothing, my dear." Rodolphus sat down, and the whole room followed suit.

"You returned Remus to us." Minerva said "and put Harry into enemy territory."

"I assure you, Professor, that Hogwarts has never been enemy territory." Hermione scoffed and then remembered herself "If we are to win this battle, Harry needs to be at Hogwarts, or else the Dark Lord won't bother with Hogwarts at all. It's our stronghold, I need it."

"That's all very well and good, but what about our needs? What about The Order?" Minerva replied waspishly "You may have abandoned your frie-"

"Professor," She was close to losing her temper "If you _look_ at this situation objectively you'll see that-"

"Miss LeStrange." Kingsley interrupted.

She bit her lips and closed her eyes, he could feel her latent magic in the room, it was hot and zipped through him like static. She exhaled and tried again "It's Miss Granger, and if you let me expla-"

"I think we've given you more than enough time for that Miss Granger." Minerva said.

A window shattered and Antonin grabbed her, feeling her magic burn through him, it was fire in his veins, he bit his tongue from cursing. Just how much magic was Hermione carrying inside of her lately? She had so much even he could feel the weight of it.

Rodolphus repaired the window.

"In this house, we believe in social niceties and if you cannot respect Hermione, then you will be asked to leave." Rodolphus sat down on the other side of her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it in support, finally the magic balanced out and Antonin relaxed.

She bowed her head, embarrassed at her outburst. "Sorry, we're still getting a hang of this. Okay, let me explain."

Everyone was quiet at her outburst, Antonin wished it didn't take her breaking a window to get their attention.

"Okay." She started again "The final battle _must_ take place at Hogwarts, not only is it what the Dark Lord wants, but it is the easiest place for us to win, he is not as familiar with the castle as The Order is, and there is a well-"

"Hermione." Rodolphus cut her off

She looked at him confused, but finished her sentence "There is a- Well, there is a good _reason_ to listen to me."

Some things were better off left secret, Antonin knew that Rodolphus was worried about the endgame as much as he was.

"We will concentrate our efforts on Hogwarts then, but you know the terms." Kingsley said, shifting uncomfortably "You must come back to Hogwarts as well."

"Unacceptable!" Antonin barked, startling Minerva.

"No, Antonin, I knew this was going to happen." Hermione said quietly, thickly beside him "I will go."

"Hermione." Rodolphus said "You're not _safe_ there."

"Severus is there, and the castle is protected and-"

"Good, that's settled." Minerva said standing up "Collect your things."

"The Order needs me." She said "It's only two weeks, and then we'll be together again, all of us."

Her bags were already packed, Antonin felt the sting of betrayal.

"I knew they were coming today," She said, her voice was hollow "I knew that I would be leaving. This is _my_ sacrifice to end this war."

"Hermione, please." Rodolphus was pale. "Hermione, don't leave."

"I have to Rodolphus, this was Harry's condition to return to the castle." She wouldn't face them now "I love you, and I'll miss you dearly, but if we are going to win, I must...I must go back."

Antonin didn't remember how she left, or what she said to him. Only Yaxley coming home from the Ministry and vehemently denying that she would have gone.


	34. Cyrillic & Checking In

"She's no more than a prisoner of The Order." Severus said over dinner the next night, picking at his plate. The dinners were lonely without Hermione. "I went to her after questioning last night." Severus didn't finish his thought, leaving it hanging in the air.

"Since _when_ have they been in contact with her?" Rodolphus' voice was hoarse "When did she decide to leave?"

Severus didn't speak for a long while.

"Blackmail." Lucius supplied "An Order member threatened to expose her, expose all of us."

"Why...why didn't she come to us? I would've killed the bastard!" Yaxley banged on the table and pointed his knife at Lucius. "You know who it is, don't you?"

Lucius thinned his lips out and turned his head down, refusing to answer.

"We don't know who _started_ the idea, but we do know that The Order came to agreement on persuading her." Severus looked up at Antonin, but Antonin didn't say anything. "If we were fighting with the Order, we lose our chance for a final battle. She knew that."

"Can we go see her? Severus?" Rodolphus asked hopefully.

Severus shook his head "Not all of you, not all at once, Yaxley maybe."

* * *

Yaxley went on a rainy Wednesday, Antonin didn't want to see her, he felt sick with revulsion. How could he have been tricked by her? How could he have thought he loved her? She left so _easily_.

He was drunk at three, when Yaxley came home from Hogwarts through the floo. He handed a note to Antonin and sat down across from him.

"You're drunk, Tonin, you're always drunk."

Antonin looked up from his empty glass and narrowed his eyes. Everyone was on her side but him. Didn't everyone see that she used them? Betrayed them?

"She's a sight to behold, in the finest LeStrange robes and all alone in a sea of students." Yaxley ran his fingers through his hair. "The Order has completely gutted her, she's so hollow now, merlin how stupid have we been to think-"

"We _are_ stupid, we all got taken advantage of by some teenage mudbl-"

" _Don't_ mention that word in relation to her, Antonin Dolohov. She saved your life." Yaxley snapped "If Hermione hadn't gone to The Order, you'd be explaining to our Lord right now why she was sleeping with you for the last year."

"Why couldn't we save her this time too?" He tossed the letter on the table. "Why-"

"Because if we don't work together with these shits, then this war is _never_ going to end and we're _never_ going to be free. She has to kill Potter, she's there to make sure he's killed, give her a fucking break." Yaxley sighed "Winty, bring me some tea and maybe some sober up potions for Antonin."

Yaxley and Antonin had tea in silence, sobriety was crushing. He could feel the uncomfortable tug of her tracking charm when he was sober. He eyed the neatly folded letter with his name written in Hermione's tight script. Rodolphus sat down wordlessly

"Can we help at all?" Rodolphus was always the concerned father "Does she need anything?"

Yaxley shook her head "I thought about bringing her more robes from here, or food, or _something_ but she says she has all she needs. A letter might be nice, she's lonely." Yaxley eyed the letter too "Open it, tell us what it says. She only had one letter and it was for you."

"No." Antonin said staunchly. "I care little for what she has to say to me."

Yaxley picked it up and opened it.

"Antonin," He cleared his throat and scanned the paper, before speaking _"N-Poct-N_."

"That's it?" Rodolphus who had been sitting up to listen, he fell back into the chair "That's it then. We wait until Valentine's day. Should we get her a dress for the ball? Something?"

"Look at you lot, agonizing over a teenage girl." Antonin snatched his letter from them "Are we not death eaters? Are we not powerful?"

"Antonin-" Yaxley started

"Leave it, Yaxley." Rodolphus said and scratched his five o'clock shadow "Just leave it."

* * *

He was up at dawn, the time of day that reminded him of her the most. His thoughts swirling as he held the crumpled up piece of paper. In shaky cyrillic, her attempts at his mother tongue, " _prosti._ "

He missed her. He hated that he missed her so much. He never thought of himself as a weak man, or a reliant man, but just a few days without her had reduced him to nothing. She was his fire, his magic, his _meaning_.

A knock at the door, Antonin rolled over, hiding the note beneath his pillow. "Come in then."

"You awake?" Yaxley asked standing in the hall with a bottle of wine.

Antonin gave him a look and Yaxley sat on his bed uncorking the bottle. "You okay?"

"I'm a fool." Antonin rubbed his face with his hands in an attempt to wake up. "I'm a fool for her, does she know?"

"If you're a fool, then what does that make the rest of us?" Yaxley poured him a glass and handed it to him "Cheers to us, a bunch of old men pining for a teenage girl."

It was her favorite, a sweet elf wine, he smiled, remembering meeting her parents. "Cheers to us, a bunch of dirty old men."

He took a sip and looked at Yaxley critically "How was she really?"

"A mess, a well put together mess. Her LeStrange demeanor with a Dolohov temper and a bit of Yaxley charm thrown in." He laughed, it sounded forced. "I know she's doing this for us, to keep our cover 'til the end, I do, Tonin, but I want to help her. She looks so sad."

"She is...she is unhurt?"

Yaxley shook his head "I have to wonder if half the reason she stayed with us was because she had been afraid of what The Order was going to do with her. They did a number on her, Severus told me that they tried to dose her with veritaserum again, but-"

"But?" He'd kill them all.

"Percy Weasley intervened, imagine that, a Weasley." Yaxley's voice was muffled by the wine glass "She asked for you, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that you were piss drunk and calling her names."

* * *

"I promise, Yax." He said on Saturday while Severus was waiting for the three of them "Let me just _see_ her."

"A vow." Severus insisted "You will not speak or be seen."

"My word." Antonin insisted. Desperation didn't look good on him, but it was all he had.

"Let him." Rodolphus said, it was a few days before the ball at Hogwarts "What will it hurt?"

Yaxley was holding two bags with _Harrods_ in gold lettering on the outside. Dresses, shoes, some of her jewelry, biscuits (the chocolate kind), the book on family magic that she had been reading, letters from Rodolphus, Antonin, Lucius, and Rabastan, and a small painting of Jean LeStrange. A house elf was standing beside him, Winty, and the paintings had gathered to wish both the elf and the young LeStrange portrait goodbye.

Severus stared at him critically for a moment, Antonin felt the proddings of legilimency and immediately looked away. "Fine, not a word Antonin. The location of the Order is at twelve grimmauld place. She's kept there on weekends."

"Secret kept?" Rodolphus said.

Yaxley scoffed "Severus is the secret keeper now that the old man is dead."

"Well, at least we know where she is then." Rodolphus said "And Severus, remember what we discussed."

"I will tell her."

Rodolphus nodded stiffly before leaving the room, Yaxley watched him before turning his attention to Antonin and raising an eyebrow. What was Rodolphus playing at?

Antonin cast a few spells before pulling the invisibility cloak around him. Notice-me-not, silencing spell, and a few wards to prevent those from bumping into them, and once he had finished, he tugged on Yaxley's sleeve. They disappeared.

* * *

Grimmauld Place was dingy and musty as Yaxley and Severus stepped inside. Antonin wondered how Yaxley had gotten into their good graces, but then he remembered it was due to his connections at the Ministry that he probably was still a neutral party.

A fat redhaired woman came out and greeted them all in the foyer, tensions were high as she gave the two of them a look over before gesturing to the kitchen. "Hermione, dear, you have _guests_."

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley." A voice called, tired, frustrated. "I'll take them in the kitchen."

"I'm not your servant, dear." The woman replied testily before brushing past Severus.

"That woman," Yaxley snapped "As if our little dove wasn't doing enough."

She appeared in the doorway, and suddenly an elf popped out of nowhere, Winty clung to her robes and sobbed. "Mistress Hermione!"

Her hair was slicked back in a low ponytail, she wore her nightgown underneath her robes, dark circles against her pale skin gave her an otherworldly look. Antonin's heart twist in his chest as she bent down to the elf's eyelevel and patted her reassuringly on the head.

"She begged Rodolphus, and we begged him not to." Severus said holding the door open to the kitchen. "Winty, prepare us tea."

"Yes, prepare tea and biscuits for the mistress." Winty rushed into the kitchen and tea kettles began flying.

"It's only temporary. No need to send an elf." She yawned and shuffled back into the kitchen, dead on her feet, her eyes half open, her body half present. "Only a few more days."

Her fingers were covered in ink, and he could see on her pronounced cheekbones smudges of ink where she had fallen asleep.

"You're not eating, love." Yaxley said pulling out a chair for her, she fell into it "You're not taking care of yourself."

She pushed some papers out of the way, arithmancy calculations to make room for others to sit at the table. Winty began to straighten up all the books, the papers, the ink pots and quills, they swirled around the table before stacking themselves neatly.

"No time, no energy." She waved it off and yawned.

"No privacy still either?" Severus looked pointedly at the door that was cracked open, there was a scuffle on the other side as eavesdroppers scurried away.

Yaxley put the bags on the table before her "Rodolphus sends his love, and his books. We al-"

"Please take it back," She said looking in the bags "If they find it...they'll do away with it."

"Absolute rubbish." Yaxley said and suddenly wards went up, blue light bathed the room.

Antonin wanted her to have some privacy. He said he wouldn't say anything, not that he wouldn't do anything.

Severus sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Have they stopped trying to dose you?"

"Yes," She said "I've been eating more often, thank you Severus."

Dosed? Antonin's blood was boiling. He got as close to her as he could without giving himself away.

"We brought the elf to feed you instead, Winty will keep an eye on your food from now on, no more veritaserum mashed potatoes." Severus said and Winty nodded furiously in agreement.

Hermione gave a wan smile before she looked over a few pages of equations, handing them to Severus and Yaxley. "This is the strategy I've come up with last night, The Order must be stationed inside of Hogwarts for this to work."

"They'll never buy it." Severus said looking it over "It's sound, but-"

"But they don't trust me." She said rubbing her eyes, Winty placed tea in front of her "They don't trust me at all, but they keep asking me to plan the strategy. They won't let me sleep, they won't let me _eat_ they won't let me do anything but come up with this!" She was close to tears "I'm so frustrated Severus, I'm _trapped_."

"We would have dealt with them, love, we still can." Yaxley said and rubbed her shoulder reassuringly. "We can just leave, no need to put yourself through this."

Severus turned the parchment over and Antonin saw a smudge where she had fallen asleep.

"No." She said "It's only a few more days until…" She grew quiet and then looked at Yaxley hopefully "How is…"

Yaxley fished a letter out of the bag and handed it to her. It was his writing, _"my love_ " in cyrillic on the front. He wrote her a short note in Russian, hoping to keep it away from prying eyes.

She opened it excitedly and scanned it over, a furrow in her brow before she looked up at the two of them, her eyes were watery but she quickly looked away, folding the letter back up.

"Winty," She said as the house elf began to clean the kitchen "Put these bags in the attic. I'll bring them back to Hogwarts with me. They keep me here on the weekends because the castle is too big to let me _roam freely._ " Her sarcasm was biting. She had accepted their comfort. He relaxed a little.

"And Hermione, another thing." He slid a ring, a LeStrange family ring, a simple platinum thing with latin inscribed into it "Rodolphus requested that you wear this."

She slid it on easily and then it disappeared. He felt her magic subside. "A dampener, I knew he had one. Most old families have these old things from when they thought muggles got _infected_ with magic."

"Hermione Granger." A shrill voice "You do not _own_ this kitchen just because you make a mess in it!"

"We must be going." Yaxley said looking over his shoulder "See you at the dance, love."

"Save one for me." She said, a smile playing at her lips.

Yaxley stood up and bent down, kissing her on the top of her head. "Be safe."

"I will be back this evening for dinner." Severus said.

Antonin stayed for a few more moments, watching her smile fade as she stared down into her teacup.

The parchment grew wet, Antonin kissed her too, a slow drawn out kiss through the cloak, he could smell her hair, parchment and ink. She gasped and stilled "Antonin?"

If he lingered a moment longer he would never leave her side. He left. His heart hurt. The three of them arrived back at LeStrange Manor in silence the tug of the tracking charm mingled with the ache in his chest.


	35. Needs & Wants

Antonin quietly sat beside his best friend as Yaxley dozed off, his body twitching every so often from the after effects of the cruciatus. The Dark Lord had cursed them all that night, a fit of anger when the Vampires declined their olive branch again, down to only inferi and dementors that were both incapable of being controlled, the Dark Lord was weaker than ever, and with weakness comes frustration.

Rodolphus was shivering in the chair closest to the fire, his eyes glassy as he stared into the flames. They all sat quietly, no Hermione to pepper them with questions of how the meeting went, to hand them vials of healing potion left the house drafty and empty. Antonin laid back against the couch cushions that irritated his sensitive skin and sighed.

"How many more days of this? How many more meetings?" Rodolphus asked, perhaps to himself, not many people were still awake. Yaxley gasped for breath as another spasm took him in his sleep.

"Not many." Antonin replied and gingerly laid his head on the back of the couch staring up into the darkness.

When Antonin woke up again, it was to the voice of Severus telling Lucius to "grow a pair" angrily as Lucius groaned in pain in the chair on the other side of Yaxley.

"Drink the damn potion, Lucius." Severus hissed, trying to prevent others from waking "Or bleed out on the carpet, I'm sure Rodolphus will enjoy tossing it."

Antonin woke up, his veins on fire and glanced over at the two men currently fighting over a vial of painkiller. "I can't _think_ when you shove th-" Lucius hissed as pain wracked him again, his head lulling back "I need to have a clear head for these things."

Severus pinched his nose shut and tipped the vial past his lips as he tried to breathe. Lucius balled his hands into fists but relaxed against the chair as the potion took hold. "Severus."

Severus tipped another vial in his mouth, sitting back against the chair where Lucius was currently breathing heavily, waiting for the numbing effects of the potion to take over. There was no coddling, no cooing of reassuring words. This was what the war was like last time, men in a living room, sitting, waiting to fall back asleep so the pain would stop.

* * *

"You'll do it then," Rodolphus rasped to Lucius a little after ten in the morning, a tea set untouched on the table, most of the men were still sleeping. Severus' head was on Lucius' leg.

"I'll do it, dammit." Lucius said.

"Don't forget."

"I won't, I won't. Stop pestering me old man." Lucius looked like shit, they all did, but he offered his hand out to Rodolphus who leaned over to accept it.

Antonin wanted to ask more, but his mouth wouldn't cooperate, and his body felt heavy. He dozed back off and woke up again to the insistent tapping at the window.

Yaxley stumbled over the couch, the cold room grew colder with the lack of body heat against his own. "Whassit?"

He threw the window open and a gust of cold air woke the rest of the room up as an owl flew in. Drolly, the house elf tried to catch it before it bothered anyone but it dropped a letter on Severus' lap and began to flutter around the room looking for a perch.

"Tea," rasped Rodolphus as he sat up, covered in the sheen of his own sweat, his hair sticking to his face, his clothes wrinkled and messy. "Tea, Drolly."

Severus looked up at the owl irritably and then unfurled the note. "Damn Minerva and her blasted meetings. The Dark Lord needs me less often." He tossed the parchment on the floor next to him

There was a clatter of china as the house elf placed the tea set on the nearby table, pouring tea for everyone in the room before letting the owl out. The smell of fresh biscuits made his stomach churn but Antonin tried to ignore it, picking one up and contemplating it as if it was a puzzle.

"Eat." Yaxley said with a mouthful of biscuit "It goes away if you eat."

All the men in the room took their tea in silence.

"This the beginning of the end, then?" Lucius said, sipping his tea, his china rattling, punctuating his words. His tremors stopped and he relaxed. "I can't take much more...indignity in my own home."

"Yeah," Severus said pulling apart a biscuit and smearing some jam on it "This is the beginning of the end."

"What of us then? Azkaban again?" Yaxley asked looking at everyone in the room. "The Order isn't going to bail us out."

"That, Yaxley, is where you're wrong." Severus tossed him the note "Share with the class."

Yaxley shot him a glare and stuffed the rest of the biscuit in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Antonin leaned over and read the missive, his name jumped out at him immediately.

 _...and Misters Antonin Dolohov presence is required at The Order of the Phoenix Strategic Planning Meeting by request of Hermione Granger_.

"She's clever as a fox, that girl." Yaxley said.

"Spit it out!" Rodolphus said sitting upright now interested that Hermione was involved.

"Get dressed for London." Antonin said "We're going to see _malyshka_ tonight."

He had never seen Rodolphus move so fast, and he laughed. That girl put a fire in all of them. Yaxley looked at him strangely but even he had a smile playing at his lips.

* * *

Antonin stood behind Yaxley, who stood behind Severus and Lucius, who stood in front of the gates to Twelve Grimmauld Place, which stood between them and _Hermione_. His fiery little goddess reduced to a slave of _the good_.

He heard Rodolphus behind him telling Rabastan to stop fidgeting and they all walked up the short sidewalk to the door in a neat line, a funeral procession if he had ever seen one, and waited patiently for someone to answer the door. When it did swing open they were met with an array of wands all pointed at them and just on the other side, seen between the shoulders of Minerva McGonagall and another auror that he vaguely recalled being related to Lucius was _her_.

"Hello then," Yaxley said, and pushed through the crowd of people waiting, his teeth gritted as wands jabbed him. "Hello then love-"

"Get away from her!" A redhead said but Yaxley paid him no mind. This redhead was familiar, this redhead was Ron Weasley.

"Yaxley." She breathed his name like a prayer, but even as he gave her a hug Antonin's eyes locked with hers and Antonin felt the world go quiet.

A sharp jab in his ribs brought him back to the present "You're _guests_ here, death eaters, any one of u-"

" _Professor Moody_ they are my guests, and you will refrain from jabbing them if you want to win this war." Hermione said, her back a little straighter as Rodolphus checked her over for any signs of abuse.

Antonin wanted to do a whole host of things to her but settled for standing next to her, his hand floated out to brush against hers, ascertaining that she was real, unhurt, and there was that spark between them that fizzled out through her wild hair. Her hand flew up to her neck and she tugged at the necklace impatiently. It felt so good to feel her magic again, it felt like home.

"Right," She said "You met my demands-"

"Hermione," Harry Potter pleaded with her, Antonin bristled at the whining tone "Please...explain why you need _them_."

She huffed, a bit frustrated, a bit frayed, Rodolphus cleared his throat to defend her, but it was the airy voice of Luna that broke the standoff "Rabastan you came!"

In robes that matched Hermione's, except in a beautiful peacock blue, Luna bounded down the stairs eagerly, jumping into Rabastan's arms. Rabastan's smile lit up the room as he enveloped the girl in his arms. "Hello, sprite."

* * *

"He said," Harry Potter said tapping on the table angrily "that you _turned_. Bill sent us word from Remus that you were having-" Here Harry's face turned red "orgies for the Dark Lord!"

Hermione was seated directly across from him in the dining room that barely contained everyone, it was standing room only. She was sandwiched between Rodolphus and Antonin, Rabastan was murmuring something to Luna under his breath.

"You're _my girl_ 'Mione, how could you?" Ron pointed a finger at her and she laughed.

"What does it matter? What does anything matter if all my intellect is going to be tossed aside because of some _joke_ Yaxley told Remus Lupin forever ago?"

Minerva cleared her throat "You're underage, Miss Granger, that makes them-"

"She's not underage." Rodolphus snapped, but Remus cut them all off.

"It was a joke, Harry, I didn't realize it at the time-"

"You're as cursed as she is, mate!" Ron said "Whatever...magic they used to turn my girlfriend against me, they used on you!"

This started everyone in the room chattering, murmuring, judging her. She grabbed her necklace, playing with the dampener ring, he could feel her magic now, it licked at his skin like a bonfire. Rodolphus touched her hand with his own, causing Ron to stand up, knocking a chair into Mad Eye Moody.

Severus' voice cut through the din " _Quiet_ , Mister Weasley, if you cannot control your _teenage hormones_ you will be asked to leave."

"Harry, what do I have to do to make you understand that we're on your side?" Hermione asked. "Even Headmaster Dumbledore's portrait has told you to trust me."

"He told me to trust your strategy, and that's what we did, right? That's why we're here, but Hermione, you've changed, Ron is right, no friend of mine would consort with so many death eaters. Even now they touch you in front of all of us!"

"Ronald Weasley is a _liar_ and he's poisoning you! Can't-"

"There's only one way to prove that you're being truthful, submit to a Veritaserum examination in front of all of us, right now." Kingsley said extracting a vial from his pocket "That way we know that your strategy is sound and you're all _on our side_."

Antonin seethed next to her and her hair cracked like a whip as her magic rose with her temper. "Fine." She said as the doors slammed shut in the room, the room went silent. "I want Severus Snape and...Auror Tonks to monitor my dosage so we don't have another repeat of before."

At least at this, the two boys across from them looked sheepish.

For all her bravery, the minute Kingsley stood beside her with the vial and the tear dropper she turned as white as a sheet.

"Hermione, are you sure?" Severus' voice was soft

She nodded resolutely and opened her mouth the taste of the serum made her shudder. She gagged when she swallowed.

No one in the room was ready when the truth began pouring out of her mouth, not even Hermione herself. She sobbed when she recounted Bellatrix's death, admitted how she still felt responsible for Narcissa's early departure, and shamelessly admitted her fears for the future. It was two hours of talking, two hours of honesty that even Antonin had not wanted to hear, but he held her hand even still. He cooed to her in Russian even still. He loved her even still.

At the end of her truths, Ron was asked to quietly leave the room, he did not protest, Antonin was sure everyone felt the same way. No one discussed strategy that night, instead they whispered apologies to her that she did not accept.

"There's no need," She would say honestly "There's no need."

Minerva reminded her gently that she was no longer in Order custody. Minerva spoke her words back to her. "There's no need." The Headmistress said quietly "There's no need."

* * *

"It's because of the hormones of some teenage boys that they were so unwilling to work with her, one _small_ lie from Remus Lupin months ago now, and they turned on her." Severus was pacing in front of the fire as she ate dinner in the dusty library.

The table that Antonin had transfigured in the middle of the library was full of food that Winty had prepared while Hermione slept off the exhaustion from the testimony. They all ate quietly, respecting the library's unspoken rules. Gone were the racuous conversations over endless food that they were accustomed to at LeStrange Manor, replaced with a solemn meal as they all waited for the inevitable.

"I already apologized for it!" Remus' voice was pleading. "She smelled like all of you, she really did. Even my alpha thought-"

Hermione waved it off "It didn't matter whether Yaxley said it or not, Remus, I'm sure from the outside we seem a bit incestuous." She twirled the spaghetti onto her fork "We are, really, but-"

"You don't have to justify yourself." Rodolphus said, nursing his firewhiskey "I cannot believe that they would make you justify yourself before them. Who are they to judge you? Who are they to judge a LeStrange?"

"A visitor." Luna said across from Hermione, breaking a breadstick and handing half to Rabastan who looked at her as if she had just handed him the deed to Malfoy Manor.

"Hermione?" A voice asked through the door, Harry Potter.

"Come in Harry, we're just eating." Her voice was hoarse and she raised her glass that suddenly refilled itself. Yaxley would never let her glass go empty tonight.

The door cracked open "It's almost midnight-oh I thought you would be alone."

Harry was in some oversized striped pajamas as he stepped into the library. It was amazing to be in such close contact with him, Antonin figured the great Harry Potter would have _more_ to him, but instead he was an awkward teenager who played with his messy hair as Winty set another place at the end of the table for him.

"Never alone, not if I can help it." She said and looked up at Antonin gratefully.

He squeezed her hand under the table and she sipped her wine and hid her smile.

Harry sat at the table gingerly and Antonin realized Severus was glaring at him from the other end. "Cut it out Severus." Yaxley snapped "I don't care if he fucked your mum or something, you're going to have to work with him."

"You're a piece of work, Yaxley, for being the cause of all these problems." Severus turned his ire on Yaxley instead of Harry.

Hermione didn't seem phased by the bickering and grabbed the bottle of elf wine and held it up towards Harry. "This stuff is great, do you want some?"

"Can I?" His voice broke mid sentence.

"Winty pours for the Mister Potter." The small elf said beside him, dressed in tartan today that looked like scraps of Hogwarts uniforms.

"I shouldn't have listened to Ron," Harry said at last, after Severus and Yaxley quieted down "It...just why would my friend be hanging out with death eaters? Why wouldn't my friend tell me she was living unless she was doing something she was ashamed of? It made sense at the time, but Ron got so _fixated_ on it."

"That much was obvious." Antonin snorted into his glass of firewhiskey.

Harry looked at him strangely and Antonin met his stare. The boy wouldn't intimidate him, the teenager broke eye contact first and Antonin felt like he had won something. He was petty, he didn't care.

"When we took you to seashell cottage it seemed to confirm our suspicions." Harry let the last word hang before explaining "The way you wouldn't trust us, your friends! Ron said you were bewitched, we found so many spells it could have been, some dark, well, most dark. Moody said you were...sharing magic, he could see your signature had changed to something dark and that confirmed it."

"What in the _hell_ does that mean?" Lucius snapped "Her _magic_ was dark," He mocked snidely "There's no such thing as _innate_ dark magic, there's no way he could have told you that in good faith, boy, you are a fool."

"Lucius." Hermione warned.

"When we asked Aberforth, that's Headmaster Dumbledore's brother, how could someone share magic, he told us that only people who have been _intimate_ share magic. The joke wasn't just a joke, it was real, wasn't it Hermione?"

"Aberforth was a fool." Lucius said, clearly irritated that someone could get magic so wrong in front of him "You don't need to lie with someone to share their magic, any strong feelings of...familiarity will allow your magic to flow in and out as needed."

"Then...you're _familiar_ with them?" Harry looked like he was about to be sick.

"What does it matter if she's fucked all of us or none of us, Potter, it's none of your damn business." Yaxley said, clearly irritated. "Is it her cunt that you want or her mind?"

"I just want to know!" He shouted "I want to know if Hermione is-"

"Magic is shared out of _love_ , Harry. I don't need to...to fuck anyone to love them!" She shifted in her seat, clearly upset again. "I love you, it doesn't mean I want to...to fuck you!" She blushed scarlet and looked away from all of them towards the fire.

"If your _intent,_ Potter, was to sit at our table and insult the only person who can get you out of this mess, then, you're free to leave." Severus drawled, pouring himself another glass of firewhiskey "Make your apologies before I drag you out of this room."

"Sorry, 'Mione, it's just hard...to sit here and dine with death eaters." He said sheepishly "Mister...Mister Yaxley? Is right. It doesn't matter to me what you've been doing, only that you're here and you still want to help even after all the crap The Order has done to you thanks to some stuff Ron said."

"People are quick to believe the bad things they hear about good people." Luna said with a mouthful of bread.

Rabastan nodded sagely next to her, stuffing the remaining half of the breadstick in his mouth.

* * *

He kissed her in the hall, over and over again until she squealed for him to stop. He was a little tipsy, and a little overjoyed, and a little overwhelmed by both, and she was just _so_. He kissed down her neck and her hands ran up her body. "Antonin, Antonin." She pleaded in a breathy whisper "We have to stop."

"You left," he growled against her skin, soft and _his_ "You _left_."

"I needed to protect you." She pushed at him weakly, his hands came around her waist and lifted her up against the wall so she was a few inches higher than he was.

Her eyes were shining and a smile played at her lips as her fingers tangled up in his hair. No one had ever looked at him the way that she did, as something more than a means to an end, more than a vehicle of revenge, more than a murderer. She kissed him soundly, her tongue tangled with his. Could she feel the passion in his kiss? The way her breath hitched gave him an answer.

"Uh, Hermione?" A girl's voice.

She tried to move, but Antonin wouldn't let her, finishing the kiss as if they weren't being interrupted, his lips only moving an inch away from hers, she exhaled shakily and squirmed. "Put me down, Antonin."

"Make me, _malyshka_." He turned his head to see a pale redheaded girl wringing her hands in the darkened hallway. "She's busy, _uhodi_ , go away."

"Ginny." She sighed and her fingers left his hair, he knew he had lost her attention for now. She squirmed and he let her down on her feet, his libido coursed through his blood and he tried to ignore it. Biting his tongue, he followed the two girls inside the library.

He sat her next to Yaxley, sandwiching her between the two of them on the couch, Severus and Lucius had gone, and Rabastan had left with Luna after dinner to do whatever that girl wanted to do, Antonin was not sure.

"Harry told me, well-" Ginny ran her tongue over her sharp teeth and squeezed her hands together before starting again "Hermione, I'm sorry I didn't believe you, or Luna. I'm sorry that...well about my brother."

Hermione looked over at Rodolphus briefly who was ignoring a game of chess to survey the situation, she smiled and turned back to Ginny.

"It's not your fault." Hermione soothed.

"But it is yours." She said, there was a clatter of a chess piece hitting the board. "You could have told us that you were in league with the vampires before The Order offered me up to them, or that you-"

"Your brother knew Ginny, your brother met me there, he-"

"He said that they needed a girl to be the liaison! That we needed vampires to defeat You-Know-Who! When I got there they told me that I wasn't the "right sort!" I can't even go to school anymore!"

"What would you have me do?" Hermione asked seriously, smoothing over her robes.

"You come back here after you've made such a _mess_ of things, everyone waiting on you like you're royalty, listening to you after you got to play house with a bunch of convicts for a year while people like me suffered at Hogwarts and here at the Order. Now Harry is wrapped up in your little _scheme_ -"

"The sins of the father." Luna's voice was like a bucket of ice water on the red head's impassioned rant. "Are to be _laid_ upon the children."

Luna did not walk, Antonin decided, she floated, like a ghost would, her hand held loosely in Rabastan's as they came back into the library after a walk outside, judging by the wet hems on her robe.

"What did you say about my dad?" Ginny said standing up, looking for a fight.

"Hermione was not here when Mister Weasley agreed to send you to the vampires, was she?" Luna looked over at Hermione who was fiddling with the dampener around her neck. "The sins of the father."

"Ginny," Hermione started again "I am truly sorry that your family did not listen to me, refused to listen to me every time they had met me because of Ron, but I am trying to make things right."

"What part of making things right involves _fucking_ the man who murdered my uncles out in the hall?" She pointed a finger towards Antonin, who rolled his eyes.

"I did not kill the Prewett men." Antonin's russian accent slurred some of the words, his boredom was evident. "Get off your high horse, little girl. I may be a murderer, but I am not sloppy enough to get _caught_. If I recall correctly, those men were not quite so innocent by the time they fell into our hands."

"Murderer!" She shrieked "And you! You turned me into this Hermione Granger. You think you have The Order and Harry fooled with your arithmancy and _smarts_ but I see the real you Hermione Granger, a murderer, a whore, a _LeStrange_. You make Bellatrix look like a saint." Ginny's voice grew low. Rodolphus stood up, tipping the chess board over, but Hermione didn't move even as Ginny approached her. "Harry can never love me now, because you-"

"Ginny?" Harry's voice was uncertain as he stood in the open doorway of the library. "I heard shouting."

Ginny stood up straighter, smoothing over her clothing and schooling her features. "Nothing, just talking to Hermione, catching up, yeah?"

Luna looked over at the door "It's a shame that vampires can't see their reflections."

Harry surveyed the room "What's that mean Luna?"

"Reflections are the truth, Harry." Luna said and smiled up at Rabastan who was watching Harry Potter with a strange intensity.

"They are." Harry agreed, but he didn't sound like he knew what he was agreeing to.

"Come, little dove." Yaxley said righting the chess board "I'd love to share a bed with you-"

"Yaxley." Hermione admonished "You're what got us into this great big mess in the first place, you and that mouth."

He waggled his eyebrows at her and she cracked a smile, the tension in Antonin's body leaving "Let me show you what I can really do with this mouth."

"Perverted old man." She slapped him playfully on the arm and he pretended to be wounded as they walked out of Grimmauld Place with their prize with little fanfare and only a "See you tomorrow, Harry" as she exited.

Antonin was always amazed at how much trouble his Hermione could get out of just by talking.

It was only that night, when they were nose to nose in his bed, her fingers laced with his when she said "I love you." did he realize how dangerous her words were.

He'd fight a thousand wars, kill a thousand men, die a thousand times, just to hear her love for him, and when he asked for her to say it again, she asked for nothing.

"I love you, Antonin." She smiled, he could feel her heart racing as she said it.

"My love," He whispered back "Moya Lyubov."

How much could his Hermione get with words? Everything. Absolutely everything.


	36. Beliefs & Conduits

"Mistress Hermione." An elf shook her, and thus shook him "A Misters Weasley is here to see you this morning."

"A what?" Antonin answered for her, pulling her back against him, her face buried against his bare chest, her hair tickling his nose as she slept. "Tell him to leave, you too."

She rolled out of his grasp and there was a distinctly male groan in the bed with them. Antonin sat up and surveyed the room in the late morning light, Rodolphus was passed out with a bottle of firewhiskey still in hand, two champagne bottles were on their sides on the table, another bottle of firewhiskey was completely empty at the foot of the bed. Yaxley was underneath the covers next to her, his white hair poking out from above the comforter, he could see the outline of an empty glass still in his hand underneath the blanket.

The celebration he had forgotten, but his head had not. "Antonin," she groaned "My head." And apparently Hermione felt the same way.

"Mistress Hermione." Winty's ears were flat "A Mis-"

"Bring us some damned hangover potion and tea." Antonin snapped

Hermione burrowed her head into the pillows and groaned, causing Yaxley to stir, there was a thump of glass on carpet and another elf began to disappear with bottles, noisily cracking in the air causing Antonin to cast a silencing charm around the bed. Elves apparently could be petty too, no wonder Hermione was so kind to them.

* * *

"Can I help you?" She asked thirty minutes later, with all the grace she could sum up after a late night of drinking.

The house elf had not lied about there being a Misters Weasley in the drawing room, three of them stood before her, Percy, Charlie, and Bill, sipping hot tea and staring out over the gardens that were still covered in snow.

There was a clatter of china as they all stood up to greet the mistress of the manor, Antonin yawned and turned to see Rodolphus organizing his robes as descended the stairs. "Lord of the manor?" He asked gesturing to the robes he had been wearing yesterday, wrinkled and smelling distinctly of firewhiskey.

Antonin waved his hand and a scourgify washed over all three of them. She paused for a moment but kept walking into the drawing room to greet her guests.

"Perce here told us...well, I guess just me, Bill kind of-" Charlie scratched his head and offered his hand "I'd like to say sorry Hermione, for things I've said, for things my family said, for...well, not understanding."

"Sorry?" Rodolphus asked, almost incredulously "Your apologies are not welcome here gentlemen, you should apologize to your sister, and you, well, she saved your life when you were with Fenrir and you tu-"

"I don't want your apologies." Hermione agreed "It's too late in the game for apologies."

Charlie frowned "Then wh-"

"I need your loyalty." Hermione finished with a yawn. "And some breakfast."

* * *

Hermione did her best around a table, and by the time the elves had prepared enough food for everyone, they had three more guests: Lucius, Harry, and Lupin. Lucius was flicking through the book on family magic that they had stolen from Aberforth and pointing out passages, Hermione was speaking with him in low tones that he could barely hear over his headache. Yaxley came down last, and breakfast was served with hangover potion and the daily prophet.

"It's dangerous." She said finally, loud enough for everyone to hear "But I think it will work, it's a question of whether Hogwarts can work _with_ us and not against us."

"What's the plan then? Ask the castle nicely?" Yaxley asked plucking a muffin off the mountain that was in a nearby basket. "Your plan didn't seem quite so solid last night after two bottles of wine."

She blushed furiously and Antonin rested his hand on her thigh. "There's no one who is a better conduit than me, even Lucius agrees."

"Agrees to _what_?" Harry asked, obviously annoyed that he was being excluded from the inside joke, he stabbed at a bacon with his fork and tried to hide his anger. Merlin, but the boy was so tightly wound.

Antonin glared at him, he hoped the boy could feel it.

"I'll share the castle's magic with Harry. He'll cast the curse, and I'll be the conduit."

Rodolphus seemed to be gathering his worries into something that could convince Hermione, but instead he dragged his waffle through a sea of maple syrup. "And if you die doing something so foolhardy? If you become a squib?"

"I'm the only person we know who is _open_ to receiving magic from the castle, and otherwise." She said scanning the room "The Order has to distract the death eaters long enough for us to lure the Dark Lord outside-"

"Vol-"

"The Dark Lord." Hermione insisted, cutting Harry off. "To the wellspring, and from there, I can, well, I can take care of the rest with Harry, I presume you already know how to do the killing curse?"

He looked sheepish and nodded, Antonin knew the fallout wouldn't happen while guests were at the table. Rodolphus was a gentleman first.

Hermione offered her hand to Harry who was sitting across from her, he glanced at Antonin worriedly before taking her hand. He tried to withdraw his touch but she grabbed and held tightly. "Hermione, _wh-_ that hurts!"

"I can't find it." She gritted her teeth "Hold _still_."

He squirmed in his seat and she leaned forward, her hair dipping in the tea as she struggled against his touch, and then they both stilled.

"Ah." She said slipping her hand from his, scratching her palm "I see."

She looked pained for the rest of breakfast, every so often her eyes would travel towards the window and Antonin wondered what he could see that the rest of them could not.

* * *

"I'm not compatible." She said after Harry and Lupin apparated away. "I don't have the same _feelings_ about him anymore, I tried to summon them, _all of them_ , and my magic barely slid into place."

Antonin ignored the jealousy in his chest, what feelings could his Hermione possibly have for that whelp? Did she love him?

"If you think this has even a slim possibility of working and not backfiring you better find some love for the boy, you'll be conducting a great deal of magic into him." Lucius sounded irritated "I told you that you should have picked one of us, Severus is a good duelist, or Antonin."

"Your mark makes it impossible to kill the Dark Lord _you_ told me so yourself." She snapped. "Besides, the pro-"

"Not the damned prophecy again." Rodolphus said, his boots clicking off the wood in the foyer.

"Besides the prophecy is what the Dark Lord _expects_ , he'll come after Harry no matter what." She said, finishing her sentence and giving a glare to the eldest LeStrange "If I'm a squib, then I'll be a squib, I'm willing to lose all my magic to guarantee everyone's freedom from that madman."

"Find some love for the boy, Hermione, or we're all up a creek." Lucius said "You said you thought of him like a brother, try and find some familial feelings today, or you're going to burn yourself out before you can transfer anything."

"Burn myself out?"

"All that magic, and nowhere to go? You know what happens." Lucius admonished.

Hermione was silent and she looked at Antonin "If it fails, come for me." She said to him "But this is the best shot we've got, _power_ that the dark lord knows not my arse, he just doesn't know how to tap into it."

"Does the Potter boy know that you're going to kill him before your _master plan_?" Antonin asked pointedly. "Or did you leave that out."

"Well," she said walking into the drawing room "I haven't found the right time."

Yaxley crossed his arms "When is the right time to tell someone they're going to die love? Because the boy has maybe twenty four hours left before you're going to off him."

"It's a temporary thing, we all know that right?" She asked, her voice shaking slightly "He's only gone while we summon death."

"Get off her case, Yax." Antonin snapped "Kill the boy, love the boy, become a squib for the boy. She's on the same timeline as the rest of us, give her a break."

Yaxley had the grace to look sheepish "It just seems like such a flimsy plan, get her to the wellspring and then make sure that the boy is there, and the dark lord? And it'll all work out?"

"There's a reason why the Order agreed to this one." She said, collapsing down on the couch "The only one at risk here is me. It's easier to bury one traitor than a thousand loyal members."

"That's a way to put it." Yaxley said, his fingers brushing across the edge of a frame "Are you sure you want to be at that risk we can still…"

"I believe in me." She said firmly "and when I am not believing in me, I'm believing in you, to make this flimsy plan work."

"Love, I'd pull the moon down from the sky for you, but going against the Dark Lord…" Yaxley didn't want to expose the same truth that they were all thinking.

"We'll make it work, we're the best of the best, right?" Rodolphus said "Just get him in front of Potter, and Hermione will do the rest. I trust her."

"This isn't a matter of trust, this is a matter of skill." Yaxley said, his focus now completely on the filigree of the frame. "I can't honestly say I'm feeling confident in some teenage boy who can't even take a joke to take down the Dark Lord."

"If he fails, then I'll take over, it has to be someone without the mark, you can't turn on him, you _told_ me the mark makes it impossible for you to harm him." Hermione said, now stubbornly set in her plan "If you can't believe in Harry, then what about me?"

"Fine." Yaxley said "It just seems like...is this it?"

She hummed in agreement. "This is it."

* * *

"Where are we going?" She asked for the sixth time that night, her hair blowing in front of her face.

"It's a surprise." He said, his hand on the small of her back, it was hard to get her away from everyone else, but tonight was the last night, tonight was the first night.

The bell to the cafe rang out and the wind stopped as they stepped inside, it was a warm kind of place, on the sea shore, far away from anyone who could recognize them in London.

"Do you like the sea?" He asked as he pulled out her chair, a little too far, she barely managed to sit in it.

"My parents used to take me when I wa-Antonin where _are_ we?" She looked around wondrously. The cafe seemed dingy now that she was in it, the yellowing newspaper clippings behind her head proclaiming them award winners in 1976 contrasted with the gold in her hair.

"A date." He proclaimed, feeling a blush rise on his cheeks, was this the wrong thing to do? Didn't all girls like dates?

"A date." She repeated slowly and settled a bit "Do you think it's the right time?"

"It is." He said and tapped on the table with an index finger "Waitress!"

"Antonin, you go to the counter and order, it's just a coffee sho-oh!"

"What'll it be loves?" The waitress slid from a very done up Hermione to Antonin "Ah, it's you detective."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

"Two coffees." He said quickly before Hermione could open her mouth. "And...a cookie?"

"Chocolate." Hermione finished.

Antonin looked her over in the dim lighting of the coffee shop, a smile played at her lips as she rested her chin on her hand, looking out over the docks, boats bobbing in the water, bathed in moonlight.

"You know," She said, her eyes sliding over to him "You wanted to kill me once, and now you're having coffee with me."

He hummed in agreement "I don't think, not _really_ , that I was going to kill you."

She tilted her head, a few strands of hair falling from the tight bun, held up in the hairpin Yaxley had gotten her for Christmas, her eyes saw right through him. "You wanted to kill us both back then, I knew it. We both go down together."

"You may be right, _pchelka_." Antonin said as the two empty cups were sat between them by the waitress, and between them a cookie as large as a saucer, chocolate chips falling off even as it was set down between them. The earthy scent of hot coffee filled the air and she nodded her thanks.

"What changed your mind?" She asked, her voice quiet, he was unsure he could answer her, it wasn't _one_ thing, it was everything.

"You were always mine," He caressed the words, wondering if they were the right thing to say to her, his strong Hermione who belonged to no one and bowed to just as many. "From the minute we met, you were mine."

"No, no." She shook her head, more curls flying loose "What made you decide to live?"

"You." The words came out quickly and he couldn't retract them, there was only one way, forward "You never could help yourself, you were always so busy helping everyone else, I had to live, I had to help _you_."

"You did." She said "And I loved you for it Antonin." The last words were muffled by the coffee cup, he could see the peek of a smile over the rim.

Of course she loved him, she was meant to love him, and he was sure since the beginning of time that they were meant to be sitting in this dingy coffee shop in Liverpool, relaxed against rickety wooden chairs in front of the window declaring their feelings for one another, because once he had met her, no other human on this planet had driven him to madness and brought him from the brink, taking him from his hollowed shell and stuffing life into him like he was some forgotten toy she had plucked from the side of the road. "I love you too, _malyshka_." The words flowed easily, let every muggle in the damn shop hear how soft Antonin Dolohov was for this woman.

"It's strange, isn't it." She said, the coffee cup hover "The Order told me I had _Stockholm Syndrome_ and maybe I do, but for the first time I'm content in a long time, and I've found my place in the Wizarding World."

"Where is that? LeStrange Manor?"

"With you. It's different than it's ever been before, I don't feel like I have to prove myself to anyone, I feel…"

"At home."

"At home." She replied, biting into a cookie and humming to herself.

* * *

He took great care in undressing her later, his fingers told her the words he couldn't say aloud yet, carefully tugging on the gold hairpin and letting her curls free, the robes sliding off her body like liquid, his fingers taking time on each button on her dress as she stood in front of the mirror.

"I want you to see, _pchelka_ , I want you to watch me" _worship you_ , he thought, but the words couldn't come yet, he didn't want her to know how enthralled he was by everything she was.

Her dress fell around her ankles and she hitched her breath, her hands immediately coming to cover her scars that trailed underneath her cotton lingerie. "No, no, no." He murmured against her shoulder blade, his hands grabbing her wrists, pulling them behind her so she was exposed. "See what I see, my goddess of war."

"Antonin." She squirmed a bit under his gaze, peeking over her shoulder he could see her own eyes meeting his in the mirror. "Please."

"No need to beg, I'll give you everything." He breathed against her skin, his lips lingered against her skin longer with each kiss "Look at how beautiful you get when I touch you."

He left one hand on her wrists and unhooked her bra, letting it fall forward, revealing her full breasts in front of the mirror. The curse mark crossed the valley of her breasts, an angry red line dividing her body.

Her heavy breathing was her only response, she straightened her posture for him, pride surged through him. Could she see it now? The figure that enthralled him, the small dips and curves of her body that he had memorized night after night when he couldn't sleep? Could she see the way her skin seemed to glow with magic under moonlight?

He kissed up her neck, his lips lingering on her jawline before standing up straight, pulling her body back flush against him. He was still dressed in his robes, black as night, he blended in with the rest of the room. His hair hung limp and down to his chin, a five o'clock shadow made his eyes stand out more, but even now they still look haunted from Azkaban. He looked away but she hummed his name quietly.

He kissed the top of her head "Patience."

"Look again." She insisted.

There were many times that he thought she could be a legillimens and this was proof. In the mirror was a softer him, his lips buried in her hair, his eyes warm instead of distant as he surveyed her, his hand splayed over her stomach as they stood together.

"Do you see what I see?" She asked

"I can." He said, letting go of her wrist and letting her turn around to face him. "I see a lecherous old man taking advantage of a-"

"Let me take advantage." She said and his close disappeared accompanied by the warmth of her magic washing over him with the spell "Let me show you how much I want to love you Antonin Dolohov."

She put one index finger dead center on his chest and pushed backwards until he collapsed back on the bed.

"You're so warm, you know." She said, straddling him, his cock pressing against her slit that was already wet with her juices "When you're near me, I'm practically burning." She placed her hands on either side of his head, leaning down so her lips were near his ear "I thought that it was just embarrassment of knowing that I was in love with you, but it's not, is it Antonin."

His hands settled on her hips, pulling her down against him, hissing at the pleasure of her core against his straining cock. He could feel her heat now.

"Your magic burns me through Antonin, and I crave it." Her voice took on a husky tone that he was sure was liquid desire.

He kissed her with all the desperation he had. He wanted to possess her this time, to make her fully his. His tongue met hers quickly and he was rewarded with a low moan as she ground herself against him.

She was so wet, so wet for _him_. He had never had a woman respond to him the way she did, and yet she was so eager to show him how much she responded, each and every time he touched her. He rolled the two of them over, fighting for dominance, pinning her hands to the bed next to her ears.

"Let me, _malyshka_."

He kissed her gently at first, coaxing sounds from her that made his heart beat faster, little mewls of pleasure ripped from her unwillingly, but he wanted more. He dragged his lips over her jaw line, murmuring her name, telling her all his feelings in Russian. _I love you_. _I need you_. _Don't leave me_. _You're mine_. She would never understand, and he hadn't the courage to tell her yet. His lips reached her ear and he whispered her name again, a plea.

Her body responded in kind, arching up against him, her breasts pressing against his chest as she squirmed in his grasp. She wanted to touch him, but he wanted to worship her. This night was about her.

He kissed down her neck, his tongue darting out to taste the sweat on her skin, to taste evidence that she was being driven wild. Her magic was warm against his, reaching out and stroking him as he tried to concentrate on his task at hand. Every time she spoke his name it became infinitely harder, her hips would roll up and tease his cock but he wanted to make sure that she knew he was a patient man, an _experienced man_.

"Please Antonin!" She begged, but until she would tell him what she wanted, he would do nothing of the sort. He let go of her wrists as he slid down her body.

Her fingers threaded through his hair as he worshipped her breasts, licking the underside until his lips met her rosy nipples and sucked on them eagerly as her breathing became shallow. She was always so sensitive, sensitive for him.

His hands slid down her body, memorizing every curve and dip until he reached her hips, one hand held her to the bed while another slipped between her legs. He slid his finger along her seam and she opened up easily for him. He could smell her arousal and instinct to claim her fought with his desire to seduce her. He wanted to fuck her into the mattress, but that was not what tonight was for. His thumb found her clit and began to stroke her gently, eliciting a yelp of pleasure from Hermione.

She was squirming as he stroked her. Her fingers curled up in the sheets as he slid one digit into her wet cunt, his name became a religious chant as he finger fucked her slowly, her swollen heat sucked him inside of her and he continued to lavish his attentions upon her perfect tits.

"Antonin, _please_. I want...I want you." She cried, tossing her head on the pillow.

He withdrew his finger and slid it into his mouth as he crawled back on top of her, positioning his cock at her entrance. "Did you know, _malyshka_ , that you taste like honey?"  
Her eyes locked with his, a flush upon her cheeks and he wondered if she was embarrassed but he slid into her before she could reply. Every inch of her heat was heaven, tight and slick with juices. Her hands slid up his body, dragging across his chest before resting on his shoulders.

Each thrust moved her entire body. Hermione responded with everything she had, her body, her magic, her mouth. Eventually she drew him close to her body, littering the apex of his neck and shoulder with a thousand small kisses. When he bottomed out inside of her, relishing in the _tightness_ , she would pull him closer, so they were not separated at all. It was in these brief moments that he was sure that they _were_ one.

"Faster." She begged "I need..faster."

He wasn't sure if he could keep control if he went faster. He didn't want to _fuck_ her he wanted to love her, but she felt so damned good. Her magic seeped into his, and he wanted to relish in this moment of connection for awhile longer. However, Hermione had other ideas, grinding her hips into his, making the tightness almost unbearably pleasurable, he began to move.

"Is this what you want?" He said, his voice strained, he wanted to take his time but she was so _perfect_.

"More, I want more." She begged.

He began to fuck her, holding her down into the bed with his body weight as he took from her, every gasp of pleasure fueled his desire. Everytime their hips met she would cry out, her walls tightening around him, her fingernails digging into his skin. The pain from her nails mingled with the bliss and he was sure he wasn't going to last much longer.

"Please," She begged "Please."

He was sure that she had lost all ability to say anything _but_ please, and he kissed her, taking even that away from her. He was rewarded with a throaty moan of pleasure as he fucked her, her legs wrapping around his waist, drawing him closer, and it was his name she had said as her walls began to contract around him.

He wanted to hold out a bit longer, he wanted to show her he was a man who could draw pleasure out from her again and again, but the way she whispered his name over and over, the wet heat that welcomed him, her magic that licked his skin and cocooned him was too much together and his orgasm ripped through him, thrusting deeper into her as he came inside of her welcoming heat.

She cuddled into him, but he didn't clean either of them, instead he wanted to be coated in her sweat, in her essence, because it was as close as he could get to her. She fell asleep almost immediately, her soft breathing evened out. Antonin buried his face in her hair.

She was gone before he woke up, Severus had taken her back to school. Over breakfast, the dark lord would take him to battle where they would meet again.


	37. A War with Children

"The boy, Severus." The Dark Lord hissed next to Antonin as they stood at the head table looking over the sea of frozen students "Get me the boy."

She wore white, sitting against the far wall, nursing a glass of pumpkin juice and watching the death eaters file behind the table at the front of the great hall. This was not a war, Severus essentially handed the castle over in hopes that the Dark Lord did not know where the wellspring was and that Hermione's plan, half baked as it was, would work.

Hearts were floating amongst the candles, the whole great hall decorated a lurid pink. The inner circle was standing closest to the podium alongside the dark lord, children were screaming and heading for the exits that he had already warded off, but she sat, watching them and sipping her drink. No one noticed her, probably some more clever spellwork. No one noticed her but him.

"Hogwarts students, professors." Severus said, standing up to the podium "Find Mister Potter and bring him to me to avoid any bloodshed. No _children_ will be harmed unless they are to be found working with Potter or any of the rebels." This last part was something Severus had suggested to make the transition of power easier.

She stood up, grabbing the cloak she had gotten for christmas, and the small prada bag that contained the world, their eyes met, and she disappeared into the crowd of students seeking an escape. There were no Order members in the hall, they had abandoned the plan. They had abandoned Hermione. She was gone, and their plan was too.

The wards fell instantly. She had learned a thing or two from Antonin. The enchantments on the great hall all collapsed at once, a rain of candles and decorations fell on them. Chaos broke loose as spells began to fire from the crowd of students, Rodolphus disappeared first as the Dark Lord shouted his orders, Antonin followed.

The halls were flooded with students running in sparse groups back to their common rooms. They had little time to make it to Hermione before the aurors were alerted and they had to be on the defensive. He caught sight of her hair, disappearing down the hall, followed by Harry Potter, unconscious and floating beside her.

Antonin grabbed Rodolphus and with a _crack_ they were walking beside her.

"Stunning as always, my dear." Rodolphus said, keeping the pace, he knew where they were going, to the wellspring at the courtyard.

"Black has always been your color, Rodolphus." She said and gave Antonin a shy smile "Summon death, destroy the horcrux, save the wizarding world."

"All doable, love." Yaxley said catching up with the group and taking off his mask.

"You're going to have to tell the Dark Lord that Harry is at the courtyard, he'll have to be good enough bait." Hermione said, nervousness edging into her voice.

"Figures." Antonin groused.

They stopped at the fountain and she gently laid Harry Potter out on the cold cobblestones, his face contorted in surprise. She rummaged around her bag and dragged out the invisibility cloak and tossed it on the ground beside his body. "The wand, Rodolphus. Wards, Antonin. Grab Harry, Yaxley. _Ennerverate_."

Harry Potter struggled against Yaxley who held him down. "Ge'im'off of me!"

"Harry," She looked at him seriously, Rodolphus tossed the wand onto the invisibility cloak as she continued to rummage around the bag for the final Hallows "We don't have much time, so you're going to have to trust me on this one."

"Trust you?! Trust you on what 'mione? Wait a damn _minute_ -"

She looked up from the bag briefly and then back down, her whole arm disappearing inside the bag. "You're the final horcrux, and I must fulfill the prophecy really quick before we get to defeating the Dark Lord."

So she hadn't told the boy at all, this was going to go swimmingly.

"Hermione Granger!" It was Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Ministry had arrived a few minutes earlier than expected along with the rest of The Order of the Phoenix "You are under arrest for conspiracy to-" His lips moved but there was no sound.

"Still no trust. Still nothing after all this!" She said under her breath. Hermione pulled out the vial containing the stone and rattled it. Antonin felt the barrage of spells on the wards but Hermione grabbed his hand with the other one, it was _fire_ it burnt his entire body from the inside out, the assault stopped.

"You won't die, but it's going to hurt." She said looking up from the vial. "Do you at least trust me?"

Harry Potter, sensing the futility of the situation looked to the men around him, and then over her shoulder at the light show as spells assailed the wards. "Hermione, please."

"Harry, for once, trust me."

He sagged in Yaxley's arms. "Do I have a choice? Do it Hermione."

She sighed and stood up, uncorking the vial and tossing the stone on top of the cloak.

"Everything is going to be okay." She squeezed Antonin's hand tighter, he realized she was shaking.

"Malyshka, let me do it." Antonin said beside her.

She shook her head. "No, it has to be me."

"Get on with it then!" Harry barked.

She bit her lip and then with a few flicks of her wrist Antonin was blinded by green light and Harry Potter slumped over in Yaxley's arms, dead.

His magic was completely gutted, he felt the loss like a cold gust of air and then suddenly a curse whizzed over his head.

"Please work, please work." She whispered quietly under her breath.

Everything went dark.

Yaxley whispered lumos next to him, but it didn't penetrate the darkness. The darkness spoke. "Master of the hallows three, what would you ask of me?"

"Death, I ask that you leave Harry Potter and let him live until he dies a natural death." She squeezed his hand, Antonin felt her warmth returning to him. "You will have plenty of work to do today, he is not one of them."

"This soul that I have come to escort will be escorted no longer." The darkness replied, it echoed in his mind. "What would you ask of me?"

"That is all." Hermione's voice rang clear beside him.

"When the hallows are united, you may ask for me again." The darkness sucked all the air from around him and Antonin was choking on the ground.

Hermione put up a quick shield charm, but it wasn't enough, she flew backwards into the fountain, her leg catching awkwardly on the concrete and twisting. The Order barraged them with curses quicker than he could figure out exactly where they were again. Her cry of pain spurred him to action, throwing up another set of wards, this one stronger than the last.

She was dripping wet and crawling out of the water, her foot facing the wrong direction, her body shaking, her breathing heavy. She pulled herself over Harry's body, looking down from him from within the fountain.

He gasped for air like a drowning man, his green eyes snapping open and looking up at a very wet Hermione Granger.

"I'm alive?" He asked incredulously, not moving "I feel so light."

"The horcrux within you is gone, Harry." Her voice was strained, her teeth were chattering "There are no more horcrux left, the Dark Lord is human. Stay with me, we'll kill him together, yeah?"

"Hermione." He struggled to sit up, and she pulled herself out of the fountain, hanging her head as she cried out in pain "Was this the plan? Why didn't you-"

"Later, Harry, later! You must tell them to stop cursing me, to stop cursing us. We're on _your_ side."

He stood up slowly, swaying slightly, but Rodolphus righted him "Do not forget the sacrifices that she has made for you."

Harry looked the death eater over once and nodded. "I won't." He rushed towards the curses and Antonin was worried that he'd be hit by one. Idiot boy.

Antonin pulled her out of the fountain, casting a drying spell as she cried, doubled over in pain. "It's almost over, god Antonin."

His mark burned painfully on his arm, someone had noticed they had been gone for too long, but he couldn't leave her. Not like this. He kissed her head and ignored the biting pain into his flesh. "Almost _pchelka_ , almost."

"Antonin," Yaxley said looking at her and then looking back up at the castle. "We have to answer the call, Severus and Lucius-"

"Go." She said, wiping her tears away, Rodolphus handed her several vials of potion "Go and bring the Dark Lord to me."

* * *

He watched The Order assault the wards from the Headmaster's office where the Inner circle guarded the Dark Lord as he stood at the nexus.

"I can feel it." The Dark Lord hissed, raising his arms out to his side. "I can feel the power within. This is Dumbledore's secret weapon and it's _mine_."

No magical creatures had showed, no dementors, vampires, werewolves, centaurs or giants. It was human against human, and the Dark Lord felt this acutely as Death Eaters were rounded up with ease by The Order. This war would be won easily if everything continued. The flimsy plan that Yaxley had teased her about seemed to be more iron clad than ever. She had been planning this from the beginning, but it wasn't until now that he could see her brilliance.

Rodolphus peered out the window next to Antonin but wisely remained silent. They both were watching Hermione, a limp noticeable as she took the wards Antonin had hastily put up to please his Lord down from within. He knew that if the wards were taken down, he would look for who. It was a subtle bait for their master, a bait he hoped that the Dark Lord would take. Her hair was crackling blue, they could see her magic even from here. With each time that her power was drained, she seemed to gain more. The wards fell with ease and there was a ringing noise throughout the castle like hundreds of small bells going off. Another distraction he had built into the warding system to buy her time.

"What is that my lord?" Lucius asked, slightly annoyed.

"That's the sound of visitors, and our _guest_ of honor." The Dark Lord did another circle around the desk and his inner circle watched him warily "Severus has promised that he will lure the boy to the courtyard where we will kill him in front of his precious Order."

Antonin gave a worried glance to Rodolphus but Rodolphus only had eyes for Lucius. He had a feeling the two men were up to something but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what. Were they going to betray Hermione at the eleventh hour? His eyes moved to Yaxley who raised an eyebrow before following their Lord out of the Headmaster's office. Yaxley knew as well.

The stairs all aligned themselves with the Dark Lord, and he smiled not knowing it was due to Severus, the acting headmaster, that the castle was obeying. "Even thisss old pile of stone understandsss my power now." He quipped as another staircase came swinging towards the group.

"My lord," Severus bowed slightly "Hogwarts is truly yours."

Antonin thought he was laying it on a little thick but before he could roll his eyes the rallying cries of The Order could be heard via charmed howlers. There was a pause as the Inner Circle and the Dark Lord listened to howlers in a Weasley's voice scream "Moldy Voldy" before incinerating in front of all of them.

"Truly," Lucius said coolly "We are at war with children."

"A war with children is easily won." Rodolphus supplied.

The Dark Lord seemed to like this confidence from his inner circle and strode down the stairs without a word, making a beeline for the courtyard where he knew Harry Potter lie in wait.

Antonin had nightmares about the final battle constantly, the blood of children on his robes, the death of Hermione or his comrades, the screams as people died but nothing came close to the truth. The anticipation for gore built up in him and fell short as the inner circle, accompanied by the Dark Lord descended the stairs in silence, the castle empty, the howler's drowning out the whispers of children as they scattered. No one from the inner circle even tried to notice them and the Dark Lord didn't bother them about it.

They all were traitors now, Antonin was wondering if now they were going to get away with it. Magic pushed the doors to the courtyard open and the Dark Lord thought it was him, but as the magic brushed by him, he knew it was Hermione.

As soon as they stepped outside the castle walls the screaming started, and the sounds of battle rushed upon him. He realized now that there had been some sort of silencing charm on the castle itself, keeping the occupants from hearing the horror outside. He could hear the shouts of spells mingling together into a roar as they continually hit the wards of the courtyard, lighting up like fireworks before dying. These were her wards, everything was hers. She had trapped them all here inside this bubble for the final confrontation. The Dark Lord had no idea that he was surrounded by enemies, and nor would he ever.

Hermione sat, wet and glowing on the edge of the fountain, her ankle was wrapped in white cloth torn from the hem of her dress, Harry Potter stood next to her, fidgeting with the elder wand, breathing heavy. He looked like a dog ready to attack. Some key order members stood around them, wands at the ready, but no one moved.

The Dark Lord struck first, his wand, a replica of the elder wand cut through the air so fast it was a blur, the killing curse never left his lips but the jet of green light erupted suddenly, and he was sure Hermione would be killed, but the Potter boy seemed to have prepared for this because he mimicked his moves, and shot the curse back, two beams of green light meeting mid air and colliding, the magic flattening out and dispersing like ripples on a pond.

Harry cut his wand through the air again but the Dark Lord was quicker, the jets colliding again and Hermione called his name impatiently. "Step back." She yelled, but the boy ignored her. "Step _back_ , Harry."

He obliged, holding the curse as the ball of green light edged closer to the two of them. He dropped the curse when she finally grabbed his wrist and she yanked him down into the fountain with her.

The Order Members behind them erected a ward that shattered like glass in the face of the killing curse, it struck the fountain and stone erupted everywhere, but Harry Potter was _screaming_ as he lay on the ground, Hermione's magic was arcing through him, his whole body shook as she pulled him up to standing, almost falling over in the process. "Hold _still_."

"Who is the girl, Luciussss?" The Dark Lord hissed.

Antonin's heart stopped, would their plan fail?

"Lucius?"

"My lord, I believe that is a mudblood."

"Tell me _why_ sssshe has the magic of the cassstle within her? Severusss?"

This was never a good sign. No one spoke and instead looked at eachother waiting for someone to speak up on her behalf.

Her magic zipped past them again and the Dark Lord turned his attention away from his inner circle and back to the two teenagers that were covered in water and dust from the obliterated stone statue. No one spoke up for her, she spoke up for herself.

"Now god _damn_ you Harry Potter!" She screamed, her voice hoarse.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The whole world glowed green. Antonin could hear screaming, and his arm felt like it had been severed. He fell to his knees, squeezing his eyes shut and there was a pull, like his soul was being yanked from his body and then darkness, nothing but darkness.

Hermione had killed him, killed them all, and they deserved it.

* * *

Death was wet and cold, it pulled at him every so often, the white noise came and went as did his consciousness. It wasn't until a few minutes passed that he realized that death started at the ocean. He hated the ocean.

He opened his eyes to see the girl that he loved, blanketed by waves, her face down in the sand, the ocean tugging her further and further away as the tides came in. His whole body ached, death had taken away his muscle strength but he could still crawl. He hoisted himself up onto his hands and knees, the sand giving away under his fingers as he made the excruciating journey to her. Would the ocean take her to heaven? Was this purgatory? Was this hell?

He collapsed near her, dragging her onto his lap as he bent over her body, sand had coated her face and hair, stuck in her curls and lashes, leaving red marks in her skin. Antonin's hand shook as he brushed away all the sand from her, hoping to leave her spotless for when she was finally taken away from him. If this was the afterlife, heaven deserved her.

The waves washed up over the two of them, leaving his legs cold and he hugged her tighter, worried that the next wave would take her away.

The devil spoke his name. "Antonin?" The devil was a woman.

"Let me stay with her before you take her." He said brokenly, clutching her like a child with his favorite toy. Tears started to cloud his eyes, making it hard to see her. "I just want to see her be-"

"Antonin, we need to get Hermione in the house." The devil's voice was soft "You're both injured."

He looked up to see Narcissa Malfoy in a white summer dress, Draco behind her floating Yaxley up onto a white porch and into the house.

"Is this hell?" He held Hermione to his chest, his muscles were going to give out from the weight of her body.

"No, you portkeyed is our beach house, can you stand?" She asked, offering him a perfectly manicured hand.

He shook his head and buried his face in Hermione's hair.

* * *

"Granger." Draco woke him up with his nasally voice at Merlin knows _what_ hour in the morning. He sat up quickly at the intrusion, his wand pointed at Draco. "Do-Dolohov."

"What do you want with her?" He snapped, he was in no mood to deal with the Malfoy heir when his arm felt like it was on fire.

"Potions, it's...uh, well-" Draco shoved all the vials at Antonin and they fell with a clink onto the bed sheets. "Medicine time."

"Eloquent." Antonin yawned and grabbed a few of them with his good arm. "Any pain potion for me?"

She needed a whole host of potions and they barely worked since her magic was all but gone, her fire was now a matchstick in the wind and Antonin spent all hours with her trying to coax it into something more. The tracking charm had left along with her magic, so the dull ache that told him they were connected was gone. He could barely take care of himself, the arm where the mark had been was a gory mess, it looked like a bear had taken to his arm. The skin was in tatters on his forearm, and it would take weeks to heal and would leave a grotesque scar when it did manage to heal.

The ring Rodolphus had given her weeks before was a portkey, and Lucius had charmed all their robes to act as portkeys as well. Lucius activated it before the Dark Lord hit the ground. The Inner circle had disappeared before the glow of the killing curse had faded. It was Rodolphus' plan all along to get them all out of England before England could get them, and it worked. Their magic was weak now, the Dark Lord had taken his mark when he had died for the final time, along with most of his strength, but the punishment for pledging loyalty to him in the first place was nothing compared to what it took from Hermione. Comatose and completely unmagical, she lay, her breathing even next to Antonin, who refused to leave her side.

Hermione didn't wake for days, instead he tended to her, feeding her potions, running diagnostic spells when he could manage it. She withered away in that bed, even with the nutrient potions it was hard to watch her fade away.

It took two weeks of this before she moved, the first thing she said was his name. Yaxley had been asleep in the chair after another rousing game of chess when she had said it and like the dawn, she woke and brought warmth back to Antonin who was sure that he would die next to her when she passed.

"Antonin." She called again "What time is it?"

Antonin who had nodded off during the chess game looked out the window but there was only darkness "Night time."

A laugh came out as a cough "I'm hungry, did I miss dinner?"

Yaxley woke at her cough "You awake love?"

She turned her head and gave him a smile "Kinda."

She wanted to sit for her first meal and so Antonin carried her downstairs like a child, her head on his shoulder, his bad arm hanging limply at his side. He was still tired, but he was so happy that she had finally come around that he was ready to fight the dark lord again with her. He let her down onto the seat gently and everyone filled in as the elves set the table.

She smiled when Narcissa sat down across from her, a secretive smile that made Antonin wonder if she had known all along, but her next words quashed that notion "When Lucius got over his grief too quickly, I _figured_." She said as the rest of the Malfoy's sat around Narcissa. "It's so good to see you, I thought the worst and hoped for the best."

"Draco needed me." Narcissa said, pouring Hermione a glass of elf wine. "And Lucius didn't."

"Don't say that love, Hermione knows I still needed you." Lucius said taking the bottle from her and pouring some for himself.

"Who knew a grown man couldn't brush his own hair." Hermione yawned picking up her glass, the wine sloshing around inside, her hand was still shaky but her smile was not. "To you, all of you."

"To you." Rodolphus said "The dead girl that brought us all back to the land of the living."

"To you!" The table clinked their glasses together and slowly, but surely, the conversation of the dinner table returned to it's normal liveliness and Hermione squeezed Antonin's thigh underneath the table. He slid his only good hand in hers, and she smiled up at him.

He loved her, and a moment later, he leaned over, his nose buried in her wild hair his lips inches from the shell of her ear, and told her as much.

"I love you." He said

" _Ya tebya lyublyu_." She replied.


	38. Epilogue: Bears

When he descended the stairs behind Yaxley he could hear her voice, crystal clear, calling Lucius Malfoy an insufferable bastard. It was fifteen minutes before dinner and they were arguing _yet again_ over the project the two of them had taken on about ancestral magic. Part research, part book, and all bickering, Thursday nights were dinner nights at the Malfoy beach home that was not too far from the small cabin Antonin and Hermione had moved into.

It had been three months since the end of the war, Antonin had not fully regained use of his hand since the dark mark had been scooped out of his arm by magic, his fingers were stiff which made it particularly hard to play chess with Yaxley or grope Hermione, but she assured him with something called _physical therapy_ that he would be able to use his hand again like it used to be. He did not believe it, but his mother, who visited with Hermione's family often, all agreed on it.

"Oh yes, I don't _see_ why spells relating to motherhood should be in the book." Lucius snapped "This is for school children."

"Where do you think babies come from Lucius? Or have you forgotten?" Hermione's voice carried down the hall "Children grow into adults and adults have babies. They should be able to use our book as reference."

"Can we-"

" _Pchelka_." Antonin cut Lucius' rebuttal off "Come, let's get settled for dinner."

Hermione was still weak, but her magic was entirely her own. She shut the book with a thud and glared at Lucius before standing up. "It's a _wonder_."

"It is a wonder." Severus agreed "That you two thought it would be good to work together at all. I've never met two more _stubborn people_."

The Malfoy dinners were always packed with people, Hermione's guestlist was always revolving and Narcissa never denied her plus ones. There was the core group to be sure, Rabastan and Luna who were attached at the hip, Rodolphus who sat close to Hermione, Lucius and Severus who got a little out of hand when there was too much firewhiskey after drinks, Narcissa who always ushered Lucius to bed first, Yaxley who doted on Hermione but spent more of his time teasing Antonin. Then there were extras who dropped in, werewolves coming to pay their respects to the great Hermione Granger, vampires who came and went even though the all were in some twisted debt to her, and sometimes, like tonight, _others_.

Hermione smoothed out her robes and looked up at Antonin who was watching the door even as everyone settled into their seats.

"I hope they don't ask again." She muttered quietly "I don't want a repeat of last time."

Antonin shook his head "I think Severus…"

"You think I _what_ Antonin?" Severus replied sitting down across from her, next to Narcissa, a glass of firewhiskey in hand.

Severus, even now, was sly as a fox, but Hermione claimed she trusted him, so despite what Yaxley had told him about Severus playing both sides of the war, Antonin had to keep the peace.

"I asked if you had talked to them." Hermione clarified "About my answer and my reasoning."

Severus looked down into his glass but before he could reply a house elf popped next to her "Mistress Narcissa, visitors."

"That will be them, then." Yaxley said next to Antonin, his hands on the back of his chair.

"I'll meet them at the door this time." Hermione said

* * *

Antonin and Rodolphus stood on either side of her and while she couldn't see them exchanging worried glances, she glared back at them all the same. "We need to be _civil_."

She opened the door and smiled to the two people darkening their doorway. "Harry, Ginny, it's so good to see you again in Elba."

Antonin elected to say nothing, the first time he _had_ said something, he was at Yaxley's flat for a week.

Harry had been hailed as the savior of the wizarding world, but fame had proven to be too much for him, and, Antonin secretly decided, _guilt_ because it wasn't Harry Potter who had saved the wizarding world and suffered no consequences, but Hermione, who was still recovering months after the final battle had taken place.

Ginny, who was swathed in black and pale as a ghost, held a pie that Antonin knew Rodolphus would discard in fear that the redhead would take some kind of twisted revenge on his family. She had a glittering diamond engagement ring, but Antonin knew the marriage, like most things Harry Potter, was just for show. A vampire married to the great Harry Potter was a new call for unity amongst all types of magical creatures. A ploy done by the Ministry and the people who funded the Ministry: the vampires. The two faces of the _new_ wizarding world who wanted to forget stood at the steps of the one part of the wizarding world who did not and Hermione looked up at him nervously.

"You know, we are thinking at the Ministry to start including an emphasis on muggle technology." Harry said, trying to break up the awkwardness "Since we put Kingsley and Mister Weasley in charge things have been shaping up."

"Oh?" Hermione asked and elbowed Antonin who rolled his eyes "Do tell."

It was natural of course, for the wizarding world to recoil against the old ways and the old magic, the Dark Lord had twisted it and tainted it, but Hermione wisely said nothing about her feelings on this matter and listened to the youngest Weasley, the one that still hated her, talk about decorating their apartment for Witch Weekly who was interviewing the just engaged couple.

They were both pawns one of the Ministry and the other of Vampires, but Antonin refused to let Hermione be dragged into that.

* * *

Antonin pretended to be asleep when Hermione spoke to Harry alone less than a meter away after dinner, after drinks, and before Antonin lost his patience. "I told you the answer is still no, until they are all acquitted I will not step foot in England, I don't abandon my friends."

"'mione, they committed so many crimes it's impossible, even the Potter name won't get them off." Harry replied in that whining tone that Antonin hated.

"Then you may continue to visit me here, or at the cottage, as you see fit." She said, her voice held that tone of finality that meant if he pressed the issue he'd be in for something.

He did, he always did. "The Ministry just wants to ask a few questions, it's not a trial or anything, you put some kind of...hex on me and Gin I can't even tell them the country you're in. Please, I know you'd be in the clear."

"No." A pop, Antonin opened one eye lazily and looked at her. Her magic still was unstable as she recovered, a wine bottle had uncorked itself. "Absolutely not, I thought Severus…"

"He did, and really...I just want to go back to the way it was you know, you, me, Ron, Ginny, the dream team." Harry grabbed her hand and there was a hiss as he recoiled. "Your magic-"

"Mister Potter." Antonin drawled from the couch near her "I do not fear you, boy, your anger doesn't work here, nor does your begging."

"Antonin." She sighed. "Harry."

These are two worlds that would never meet.

* * *

They walked back on the beach after dark, the waves lapped at the shore, he could see the light from their kitchen window from here. Antonin _hated_ the sea, but Hermione seemed to love it.

"Do you think he'll ever understand?" Hermione asked, waves coming and going and pulling some of her syllables away from him.

Antonin squeezed her small hand in his as they walked along the shore. "No."

He didn't want to tell her a few things. A few things like she had drifted far away from her friends in the time that she had spent with him and _his_ friends, or that she had learned deeper truths than Harry Potter would ever get the opportunity to uncover in his new position as the poster boy for the New Ministry. He kept silent, because he knew, like all things, Hermione knew as well.

"I think Kingsley is using him." She continued "I think that's what he wants me back in England for as well."

His Hermione was smart, there could be no doubt. "He knows the truth of what happened, it's only a matter of time before others discover what the Ministry has been trying to hide and demand you as well."

"I hope not." She said squeezing his hand "I know…" She let out a sigh and stopped on the beach "I know that Hermione Granger was supposed to be a goody two shoes Gryffindor, but I like this better, I like this _life_ better. You work at the bank in Vatican City, and I study with Lucius, and brew with Severus and _heal_ at the clinic with Rodolphus. It seems like the past was so long ago now, I don't know if I could go back to Hogwarts and start over."

Hermione still didn't know what it meant to be the heir to the LeStrange family, and he hoped that she never really did. Lucius was in awe by how humble she was at being an heiress when Draco was decidedly not, but money was one thing Hermione remained blissfully ignorant about.

"No one can force you into a life you don't want." Antonin said, turning back to study the girl in the moonlight. "You are here now, and if this is what you want, I'll give it to you."

"It's more than just studying and getting grades, it's making a difference, you know?" She sighed and looked back at Antonin who gave her the briefest of smiles to reassure her that she had made the right decision. "If the Ministry comes-"

"They're going to have a hell of a time taking you out of your house, let alone off this island." Antonin said grabbing at her hand again, lacing his fingers with hers. "Do what is best for Hermione Granger, not what other people think Hermione Granger should be doing."

She leaned up and pecked him on the lips "Thanks." She said shyly. "For the support, and for everything really."

He turned towards the ocean, squeezing her hand. He felt her lay her head on his arm and they stood and watched the tide roll in, closer and closer to their feet on the ocean shores of Elba.

When they lay in bed in the small cottage he had built for her, although he hadn't told her anything more than it had been conveniently found, he brushed the hair away from her face and she smiled.

"Thank you, _malyshka_ , for everything, _really_." He whispered, hoping that she had been asleep.

She smiled, her scar from the night at the Ministry stood out white against her sunkissed skin.

"Sleep Antonin, you always are a _bear_ in the morning."

"I thought you liked bears." He growled, yanking her close and she squealed as he began to litter her sleeping face with kisses "Isn't your patronus one?"

"Antonin!"


End file.
